In the Reign of Queen Anna of Arendelle
by grrlgeek72
Summary: Elsa is gone and Anna is now the Queen of Arendelle. She deals with the aftermath of a terror plot to murder all of Arendelle's nobility -and- needs her Royal Council's permission to marry. An old enemy still lurks in the shadows wanting a final revenge on a woman grieving her lost sister. Cover art commissioned from comickergirl. Final story in "Worthy Queen of Greatness" trilogy.
1. The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen

**In The Reign of Queen Anna of Arendelle**

Part Three of the _"Worthy Queen of Greatness"_ Trilogy. (Hey, Ma! I wrote a trilogy! Whoddathunkit?)

This story begins the same day _"Cry Havoc! And Let Slip the Dogs of War!"_ ends, approximately April 3, 1841.

In "Worthy Queen of Greatness", the Duke of Weselton sends an invasion force to kidnap Anna and force Elsa into captivity while he loots Arendelle. The Two Terrible Sisters of Arendelle outwit him, save the kingdom and send the invasion force packing. At great cost.

"Cry Havoc! And Let Slip the Dogs of War" follows Elsa and Anna as they prepare to take the Weasel Duke to task for his cowardly attack. A surprise development helps Elsa send the Duke off into exile and re-establish Weselton as a trading partner and ally. After surviving an assassination attempt, she manages to foil a terror plot to depose her and create revolutionary chaos in her kingdom. Again, at great cost.

This story picks up in the aftermath of those events as Anna deals with the burden of being the Queen. As it happens, old enemies aren't yet finished with Arendelle. Or her Queen.

Cover art commissioned by me from the awesome artist comickergirl.

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" _It is easy to tell the toiler  
How best he can carry his pack  
But no one can rate a burden's weight  
Until it has been on his back" _  
**― Ella Wheeler Wilcox**

" _If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?_ "  
 **― Jodi Picoult,** _ **My Sister's Keeper**_

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" – _the reign of Queen Anna I began with a mystery as her elder sister, Elsa, popularly known as The Snow Queen, disappeared after leaving a Decree of Abdication behind. Evidence led Queen Anna and all her advisers to believe that Queen Elsa was dead."_

Froiland, Nils. History of Arendelle, 1800-1899. Arendelle: Royal University Press, 1907.

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If Anna had thought Royal Advisory Council meetings were no fun before, this meeting took her to new heights of screaming frustration.

"Her Majesty is Queen because her sister abdicated!"

"Her Majesty is Queen because her sister is dead!"

"We can't be sure of that – there is no body!"

"Queen Elsa became queen when her parents died; there were no bodies, then, either!"

"Whether Queen Elsa is alive or dead doesn't matter! Either way, Princess Anna is now Queen Anna!"

Queen Anna had finally reached her limit.

"ENOUGH!" She slammed her open palms on the table for emphasis.

The seven members of the Royal Advisory Council fell silent. They had seen Anna in a temper before but since the events of earlier today she had been barely able to contain her vexation. Her sister, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, had gone missing and was presumed dead. But before Elsa had gone away to who knows where she had left behind a Decree of Abdication that left the Crocus Throne of Arendelle to be occupied by her named heir and sister, Princess Anna.

For her part, Anna's emotions were a stew of grief, anger, frustration, uncertainty and insecurity. Grief for her sister's death, if she was in fact dead. Anger at her sister for running away and leaving her with the responsibility for the kingdom, if Elsa were indeed still alive. Frustration and uncertainty because no one knew for sure what had happened to Elsa. And insecurity because although Anna had acted as her sister's Regent in recent months, becoming the Queen was completely different in scope and responsibility.

"Gentlemen," Anna gritted out through clenched teeth, "It is clear that this argument is going nowhere. The one thing we all seem to agree on is that I am now the Queen of Arendelle, am I correct?"

A mumbled "Yes, Your Majesty" came from most of the men at the table.

"Very well. There are legal issues here that need to be resolved, and here's how we are going to resolve them. I will call Chief Justice Kirstensdatter to meet with me here immediately after we adjourn. Admiral Naismith, Bishop Norgaard, if I could prevail upon you to remain until Justice Kirstensdatter arrives? I would like you to witness the opening of Queen Elsa's files that contain her Last Will and Testament and all the other legal papers necessary to legitimize the succession."

The two men nodded. They had served on the council for Elsa and her father before her and could generally be counted on to support the Crown. They could also be counted on to tell the Crown when the head wearing it was in a place where the sun didn't shine. Naismith was High Admiral of the Arendelle armed forces, and thus in overall command of all the uniformed services of the kingdom.

"Then, I thank you all for your diligence and loyalty, and declare this meeting adjourned. You may go."

The other five men rose, bowed to Anna, gathered their papers from the table and left the room. Once the last of them had gone and the door was shut, Anna groaned and put her face down on her crossed arms.

"Ah, Your Majesty? We're still here," said Bishop Norgaard. If the situation weren't so serious he would have been amused at Anna's demeanor, but he realized the strain she was under and actually admired how she had managed to not kill anyone. So far.

"I know, Your Grace. Thank you for your patience. You, too, Admiral." Anna's response was somewhat muffled because of her face-down posture. She sat upright and took a deep breath, let it out slowly and then called out, "Kai? I need to send a messenger to the Judicial Center."

Kai Brevik had served on the castle staff since he had been hired as a footman at the age of 16. He had worked his way up until he became the Head Butler under Elsa's father. He had been listening for Anna to call him in once the Council meeting had adjourned.

"Yes, Your Majesty. To whom is the message to be sent?"

"Please send a message to Chief Justice Kirstensdatter saying that Queen Anna of Arendelle requests and requires her immediate attendance here to review the legal ramifications of the abdications and/or death of Queen Elsa and the succession to the throne. If that doesn't pique her interest I don't know what will." Anna slumped in her chair and crossed her arms. It was hardly an appropriate posture for a Queen, but right at this moment she didn't care.

"Immediately, Your Majesty." Kai bowed himself out to send the message.

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By the time Chief Justice of the Courts Kirstensdatter arrived at the castle, Elsa's files had been moved to the Council room and were arranged in a logical order for the Justice to review.

Signe Kirstensdatter was a compact woman in her early fifties, with steel-gray hair and lively blue eyes that missed nothing. Her judicial duties normally required her to present a stern demeanor, but her face was crinkled with what could only be laugh lines. She was wearing her judicial robes, since Anna's message had made it clear that this was an official visit with critical legal implications for the future of the kingdom.

"Your Majesty," she said to Anna as she bowed.

"Thank you for coming so promptly, Justice Kirstensdatter," Anna greeted her and gestured to a seat where she would have easy access to all the documents.

"How may I serve the Crown of Arendelle today?"

Anna's expression could have curdled fresh milk, "Well, we can start by deciding just exactly who is **wearing** the Crown of Arendelle today and for all the days after, although it appears that my sister was clever enough to make sure it landed on my head no matter what." _Damn you again, stinker._

"Ah, I see. If you would give me a minute or two to review the relevant documents?" Signe asked.

Anna waved her hand to give her permission.

While they all waited, Anna stared at the bookcase which hid the secret passage out of the castle. She wondered if Elsa had used it to sneak out, since no one had seen her leave. She decided it didn't matter, Elsa was gone, and she hated her for leaving, and she thought her heart would break if she never came back, and damn it how could she DO this to her?

"Your Majesty?" Anna was pulled out of her useless brain cudgeling by the Justice's voice.

"Yes?"

"I want to lay this out in as simple a way as possible so there can be no misunderstanding, may I?" Anna nodded and Signe went on, "The earliest relevant document here is a Decree of Succession dated last October and witnessed by Admiral Naismith and Colonel Nordholm. It names you as Queen Elsa's heir and next in line for the throne should some mishap befall her. Is that correct, Admiral?"

Admiral Naismith replied, "That is correct, Madame Justice. The Queen was to go into captivity the next day and wanted to insure that there was absolutely no question that Princess Anna was the heir to the throne."

"Very well. There is a document dated the same day, with the same witnesses, bestowing a peerage on Master Kristoff Bjorgman, making him a Baron. Do any of you know anything about that?"

Naismith again replied, "Yes. Her reasoning was that if she were killed by the Weselton troops, and her sister survived and wished to marry Master Bjorgman, ennobling him would make their union less controversial. If she were still alive, of course, her permission would override anyone's objections, but Her Majesty rarely left anything to chance."

Signe sniffed and said, "Then why did she not make this public?"

"I can speak to that, Madame Justice," Anna interjected. "She had planned to spring it on him … I mean, surprise him with it when she announced our engagement. She knew it made him uncomfortable to think about becoming a noble, so she was content to let it slide."

"I mean no disrespect to your sister, Your Majesty, but in my practice of law I have found that 'surprises' of this magnitude and importance rarely work out well."

There didn't seem to be anything to say in response to that, so Anna, miraculously, said nothing. _"My sister was just full of surprises,"_ was a bitter thought she kept to herself.

"Moving along, the next relevant document is this Decree of Abdication, dated yesterday and witnessed by … Kai Brevik and … Gerda Froiland. I must confess that I do not recognize those names. Can you identify them, Your Majesty?"

Anna's jaw dropped open as she heard the two names. When the Admiral had announced that Elsa had left a Decree of Abdication, Anna hadn't bothered reading it, running off to the North Mountain instead to check for confirmation of Elsa's death.

"KAI!" Anna jumped up and ran to the door, yanking it open and almost running into her butler.

"Your Majesty?"

"YOU KNEW! You KNEW she was going to do this! How could you not warn me?!" She screamed at him, furious at what she considered a betrayal.

She stood glaring at him, her fists clenched and her breath coming in heaving gasps as she dared him to explain himself.

"She swore us to secrecy before she told us what she was going to do, Your Majesty. She did not tell us what she had planned. And it was only a few hours before she left, so … " Gerda was standing in the hall with Kai. They had known that as soon as the documents were reviewed, Anna would come looking for them.

Anna could only stare at them, two people who had been like foster parents to her in her loneliness. First Elsa, now Kai and Gerda betraying her?

There was a gentle touch on her shoulder; it was Justice Kirstensdatter, who had come to stand next to Anna, and she said, "Your Majesty, please, come sit down and let us hear what they have to say. This is probably the most important document we have now, and it is utterly critical that we have the most complete information about its provenance as possible."

Still shaking with rage, Anna let herself be coaxed back to the table. Kai and Gerda came into the room and stood facing the Chief Justice from across the table.

Once seated, Signe addressed Kai and Gerda. "Could you please tell us exactly what happened last night?"

Gerda cleared her throat and began, "It was about three in the morning. The guard on duty on the residence floor sent for me, saying that the Queen requested that I attend her in her room. She would not call for me very often, but it was not all that unusual. I had been her personal servant since she was a young child, and I was the only maidservant who knew of her powers before her Coronation event."

Anna grimaced at that. She and Elsa had discussed the fact that Kai, Gerda, and the Admiral had been entrusted with her secret by their father. It still chafed that they had not trusted **her** , but that dead horse had been buried months ago.

Continuing, Gerda said, "I was surprised to see that Kai was also at her door. He said he had been summoned as well. That WAS unusual, so it was with no small trepidation we knocked and were given permission to enter."

Picking up the story, Kai said, "Her Majesty was already dressed as she normally would be for a work day, even though it was early. She asked us to swear an oath to her that we would not reveal what we were about to do until the following morning. We both gave her our oath and she showed us the Decree and asked us to witness it."

"Kai and I both were shocked, as you can imagine, but she would not explain herself to us. She simply told us that it was part of a plan, and that it would become clear later in the day," Gerda finished.

Kirstensdatter thought for a moment, then asked, "And what was her demeanor, her state of mind? Did she seem rational?"

Kai answered that. "She was calm, serious, her usual business-like self. Of course, she had many years of practice in presenting such a stoic exterior no matter what she was feeling inside."

"She only showed the tiniest bit of emotion when she dismissed us. She instructed Kai to wake her at seven, her usual time. Then she looked at us and said, 'Thank you both for all the kindness you have done for me. My life would have been poorer without that kindness.' Her voice had the barest quaver; only someone like us, who knew her so well, would have noticed," Gerda sighed.

"Then what?"

"We left. Kai went to wake her at seven, and when she didn't answer his knock, he went in and found the documents and her crown on the bed." She added, "The bed had not been slept in."

The silence in the room dragged on for a moment, then Signe said, "Thank you both. You may return to your duties."

Kai and Gerda nodded, bowed to Anna, whose face was a mask of sullen anger, and then they left.

"Well, Madame Justice, is there anything else we need to review?" Anna's voice was tense, she was still angry.

"Yes, Your Majesty. It is my understanding that there is one further document that may shed light on the situation, but I don't see it here."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Did Queen Elsa not leave a message addressed to you?"

Anna stiffened, then turned her head away. "It is personal. I choose not to share it."

"Forgive me, but it may be important for us to understand her state of mind. I do not require that you allow us to read it, but can you give testimony to it's content, in particular whether there is evidence in the letter that Her Majesty intended to … do harm to herself?" Signe's voice was gentle; she was aware how much pain this must be causing Anna.

Settling into a pose of stubborn determination, Anna crossed her arms, slumped down into her chair again and said, "I said, I choose not to share it."

"Your Majesty, I cannot compel you to share this with us. But consider; whether your sister is alive or de … not, it does not affect your status. You are the Queen. However, her status does control other legalities. She has a Last Will and Testament, and other documents here that do not go into effect until her passing. If she just … disappears, our laws would not declare her dead until ten years have passed. It leaves things in an uncertain state."

For a moment, Naismith thought that Anna would remain obstinate about the issue, but she suddenly deflated and her face fell into an expression of grief. She began to speak, her voice dull and lifeless.

"The letter talked about how much it broke her heart to leave me. It scared me, because the way she was phrasing things made it seem like she was going to … to … end it all. I didn't want to believe it, so that's why I ran off to the North Mountain to see the Ice Palace. I couldn't find Olaf anywhere, so that's all I could think of. And then when we got up there, it was g … gone." Her voice finally broke on the last word and a single tears rolled down her cheek.

The Admiral stepped in to explain what Anna meant; he could see she was too grief-stricken at her admission Elsa might be dead to continue with a clarification.

"Before Queen Elsa allowed herself to be taken into captivity during the Weselton attack, we were discussing the tactical realities of how we would know if the Weselton forces had broken their oath and killed her. She explained that if she died, anything she had created with her magic would pass away, so she had left Olaf to stay with me. As long as he was 'alive', we knew that she was, too."

"So you are interpreting the destruction of the Ice Palace as evidence that Queen Elsa is indeed dead?" Kirstensdatter asked.

"Yes. It fits everything we know about her magic as she explained it to us."

"Very well," Signe stated, then got an abstracted, thoughtful look on her face.

For a few moments, the only sound in the room was an occasional sniffle as Anna fought back her tears. Finally, Kirstensdatter sat straighter in her chair and said, "I am ready to give you all my opinion on the legal status of these matters."

She placed her hands on the table and looked at each person sitting there. "The Decree of Abdication signed by Queen Elsa is valid and passed the Crown of Arendelle to the heir named in the Decree of Succession, Princess Anna. Therefore, in the matter of the legal succession, whether Queen Elsa is alive or dead does not enter into this decision."

"Next, I believe from the testimony that has been presented here today we can declare that Queen Elsa is indeed deceased, and therefore her Last Will and Testament and other documents that were to take force upon her passing shall be executed."

Anna choked back a sob; hearing those words crushed her heart, but they were the truth.

"Finally, the patent of nobility granting a peerage to Kristoff Bjorgman is also properly witnessed and valid, and should be so proclaimed."

Signe saw that Anna had herself under control for the moment and her heart went out to the young woman. Anna was older than when her sister had taken the Crown, but not by much. "Your Majesty, may I extend to you my most sincere condolences on the loss of your sister. She will be missed by all of Arendelle."

Anna took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she answered. "Thank you, Justice Kirstensdatter. Is there anything else we need to do now? I … I think I must ask you all for indulgence in allowing me to take my leave, to say that I am overwhelmed by this is … inadequate."

Signe hesitated for a moment then said, "My one suggestion is that you hold an assembly to proclaim all of this to the people. There are rumors swirling and great uncertainty right now. You and your sister are most beloved by all of Arendelle, and it would be fitting for you to stand before them and explain exactly what has transpired. If you wish, I will present the legalities."

"Yes, yes, I agree. Tomorrow … no, I won't be ready. The day after tomorrow, noon, in the courtyard. I'll have it posted and published in the newspaper. Now, if you'll excuse me … "

Anna pushed her chair back hard enough to almost knock it over and ran from the room.

The three people left looked at each other, weighed down by the solemnity of what they had just witnessed. Bishop Norgaard was the first to speak.

"I can only hope that our young Queen can cope with all of this."

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'The young Queen' went out to the stable to find Kristoff. He needed to understand all the implications of her change in status, even if she hadn't come to grips with them yet. There was one thing she knew for sure, though, and that was that the kingdom needed an heir, because right now there wasn't one if something were to happen to her. Kristoff needed to understand what that meant.

" – so you're not of age yet, so the Council gets to weigh in on ruling the kingdom?"

"Yeah. Unless … " She hesitated.

"Unless what?"

"Unless I'm married." She watched for his reaction. "For some reason, the laws of Arendelle are perfectly okay with me being Queen Regnant, even if I'm not 21, as long as I have a Prince Consort."

Kristoff mulled that over. "But will the Council let you marry a commoner? Elsa's not around to tell them to go jump in the fjord anymore." He knew he was making a huge assumption that she would still want to marry **him**. He wouldn't blame her if she would push him away and never speak to him again. This was a perfect excuse to dump him – she could have changed her mind from the plans they had made last night.

"I won't be marrying a commoner. I'll be marrying a baron." She glanced away from him as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

No, he was going to lose her after all? His biggest fear was coming true.

"Oh."

"That's all you have to say, 'Oh'?" Anna slapped his arm and glared at him.

"I … I … what else can I say? Anna, I love you, and I screwed this up so badly. But, you have to do what's necessary for the kingdom. All I can do is wish you all the happiness in the world. You and Baron … ?"

She dragged out the silence, then said, "Lord Kristoff Bjorgman, Baron of Living Rock."

It didn't penetrate the haze of his grief for a moment, then he looked at her wide-eyed and squeaked, "Me?"

Her expression changed to one of anguish, "Unless you won't have me? I can be a pain, and the job description really sucks, you know."

Wouldn't have her? He'd crawl from the North Mountain to Arendelle on broken glass if she'd take him back! "I don't care about the job description, Feisty Pants. I let that screw my head up once and it almost cost me the best thing that ever happened to me. If you'll have me, I'll never let you down again."

"Well, then, Your Grace, the Queen of Arendelle asks for your hand in marriage." She smiled at him shyly.

"Your Majesty, I am humbled to accept your proposal." He looked thoughtful. "Is that really a thing?"

She giggled. "Yes, and you should start getting used to people calling you 'Lord of the Living Rock'."

Kristoff grimaced. "That sounds like a title more suited to GrandPabbie. How about 'Lord Kristoff'? Can we make that work?"

"I'm the Queen. They'll call you what I call you!" She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "Besides, you'll be 'Prince Kristoff' soon enough."

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The courtyard was packed. Anna doubted they could have fit another person in, and the crowd spilled out over the causeway and into the town square. Even if those people couldn't hear what was going on they wanted to be present.

Anna, the Royal Council, and Justice Kirstensdatter were sitting behind a long table on the castle portico. True to her word, Signe had explained all of the legal documents and precedents in clear, unambiguous language. They had started with the easiest item to explain: Kristoff's ennoblement.

He was well known and well thought of, so this announcement was greeted with cheers. He had waved to the crowd, then stepped down and went to fade into the background. Baron or not, he wanted no part of the rest of the proceedings of the day – even though he had wanted to be there for Anna, his place was not at her side during this Court. Not yet, anyway. They would announce the engagement later, after the memorial service for Elsa.

As Justice Kirstensdatter explained everything that had happened and the documents Elsa had left behind, the crowd grew quieter. By the time Signe got to the most important announcement, it was dead silent in the courtyard. The crowd was tense, their foreboding that they knew what they were about to hear making them shiver.

Kirstensdatter stood for the final statement. In her clear, penetrating soprano she exclaimed, "To our great sorrow, based on the documents and testimony available to us, it is our sad duty to declare that Queen Elsa is dead. All Rise!" Anna remained seated. She knew what came next and she wished this was just a bad dream she could wake up from. But Elsa wasn't there to comfort her from this nightmare; Elsa was never going to be there for her again.

There was a beat, then Justice Kirstensdatter proclaimed, "Queen Elsa is Dead! Long live Queen Anna of Arendelle!"

The entire crowd replied, "Queen Elsa is Dead! Long live Queen Anna of Arendelle!" and bowed deeply to the new Queen. There were a few sobs to be heard as the grief started to show for their Snow Queen. Elsa had been loved by her people. They had gladly forgiven her for the Great Winter, and her willingness to put her own body between them and the attackers from Weselton had cemented her place in their pantheon of heroes.

Anna somehow managed to overcome her impulse to bury her face in her hands and weep but she couldn't tamp down the anger that roiled inside her. _"Damn you, Elsa, how could you do this to me?"_ If her sister WASN'T dead, Anna would cheerfully strangle her for this.

She stood and waited for the crowd to quiet. "In memory of my sister, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, I decree a mourning period of thirty days. We will immediately begin planning a memorial service so that the kingdom can pay homage to her passing. Thank you all. This court is now adjourned."

She spun on her heel and stalked into the castle. The slam of the castle door rang through the packed courtyard and shook dust down from the portico rafters onto the Royal Council.

Kristoff looked on from the fringes of the crowd where he had taken himself.

"She's mightily pissed, Sven. Mad, and hurting, and grieving, and other feelings I doubt she could identify. I better get in there and see if I can calm her down."

 _"Yeah, buddy. Anna in a mood is one thing; QUEEN Anna in a mood is a whole 'nother bucket of lutefisk."_

Sven was pretty smart, for a reindeer.


	2. The Valley of the Trolls

" _Sacrifice is not an option, or an anachronism; it's a fact of life. We all cut off our own limbs to burn on some altar. The crucial thing is to choose an altar that's worth it and a limb you can accept losing. To go consenting to the sacrifice."_  
 **― Tana French, The Likeness**

 _"Never count a Human as dead until you see his body. And even then you can make a mistake."  
_ — **Lady Margot Fenring** , quoting a Bene Gesserit aphorism, _Dune_

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The Valley of the Trolls looked much as it had when she had come here with her sister last year. Anna had found out from Kristoff how she had been hurt when she was five; this revelation led to her exploding in anger at Elsa. Then the three of them had come up here so Anna could confront Grand Pabbie. He had apologized then for making an egregious error when he had first explained to the King and Queen how Elsa's powers should be handled.

" _Years of anguish, because simple words weren't used clearly,"_ she thought. _"No_ _use_ _dwelling on the past."_

She looked around at the many round rocks, knowing they were the trolls. Raising her voice, she called out, "Grand Pabbie? May I speak with you?"

There was a rumble of the rocks rolling to surround her, unfolding into their troll-shape and looking at her with their blinking eyes. A low murmur, then the group parted to let the eldest troll approach.

He waddled up close and bowed, "Your Majesty!"

She shook her head sadly, "Just Elsa, Pabbie. I'm no longer the Queen."

He looked at her and said, "I sense a great heartache, Yo … Elsa. Why have you come here?"

Elsa's shoulders slumped. She wasn't sure exactly why she had come, but the whirling confusion in her mind suddenly coalesced into clarity and she understood why her instincts had drawn her here.

"Could we speak in more privacy? I trust your people, but this is not something that is easy for me to share."

"Of course, my child. Come with me."

He led her over to a low stone shelf at the edge of the clearing. The other trolls rolled off to leave them to their conversation. Elsa sat down with a grateful sigh; she had been on her feet since before dawn and it was long after sunset now. It was a long walk from Arendelle to the North Mountain and then to the Valley of Living Rock, and this time she hadn't had the crazy emotions of her Coronation night driving her.

Pabbie let her sit for a few minutes to gather her strength, then said, "I knew that there was strong magic being made on the North Mountain." A gentle touch on her knee as Pabbie continued, "What were you doing on the mountain that caused me to sense your magic?"

She fell into a listless slump again. "Destroying my Ice Palace and finding Marshmallow."

"Elsa, why would you destroy your palace? It was a thing of great beauty and a testament to your gifts."

Elsa looked down into his warm brown eyes. She could see the concern and sympathy in them. "Because I needed everyone to think I was dead."

"Ah." He had helped her research her magic shortly after the Great Thaw. "Why would you want to do that? It will bring great pain to your people … and your sister."

She winced with guilt. "Because I couldn't have Anna come looking for me this time. I won't go back, I can't, but she would never have accepted that." Managing a wry smile, she looked at the old troll and said, "You know how persistent she can be."

"I do indeed. But why are you running away? Last time, it was to protect your kingdom from your magic. But you have control of your magic, don't you? Has something happened that has disturbed that control?"

"No, I have perfect control," she held up her hand, palm up, and created a small fountain of snowflakes dancing in the night. It brought a small smile to her face, Pabbie was glad to see.

"So, then, why have you come? What are you seeking?"

Elsa hesitated, then said, "I want you to erase my memories. I want to forget everything that has happened since I was eight, since I … since ..." She couldn't finish.

The Aurora Borealis danced and glittered in the night sky. The only sound was their faint hiss and the sound of steam venting from cracks and crevices in the rock walls of the valley.

Pabbie shook his head slowly and said, "Alas, my child. I cannot do that."

"Can't? Or won't?" Elsa's tone was sharp, she had counted on this, she needed this, she needed to erase all the pain, all the sorrow, or she was afraid she would go mad. She had survived thirteen years of isolation, trying desperately to protect her sister and her kingdom from her 'curse'. Their reconciliation had only lasted three months before Weselton attacked and took Elsa into captivity and nearly killed her. Then the Duke had sent an assassin who had failed only because of a timely stumble. Each disaster came on before she had time to heal from the last one. The diplomatic notes accusing her of aggression and the murderous plot of a madman were the last straws, the events that drove her past her breaking point. That drove her … here.

"Can't. Elsa, do you remember what I said when you and Anna came here for an explanation of the first time you hurt her? When I said I could not restore her memories?"

"Y … yes. You said that her memories … even her changed memories ... made her who she was."

"It is the same with you. The sum of your memories make you who you are."

"But you changed Anna's!"

"Changed, not removed and when I altered her memories, she was only five, a child, with not many memories. I made the smallest changes I could, simply removing the magical elements of your play time, and putting you outdoors instead of indoors, using real snow instead of magical snow."

Elsa nodded and he continued, "But you are an adult. Your have many more memories, and you are not asking for a simple thing. If I understand you, you want me to remove all of your memories of your life for the last fourteen years."

She nodded again and he went on, "That would destroy your mind totally. Your memories are so interwoven that removing so many would remove all. You wouldn't regress to an eight-year old in a woman's body; your mind would be totally blank, worse than that of a newborn, because the damage would preclude any new learning or growth."

Elsa absorbed this information for a moment, then put her face in her hands and began to cry. Through her sobs she managed to stutter, "But … but I need to forget. I can't man .. manage the p … pain anymore. I'm afraid I'll descend into madness, Pabbie."

"Elsa, you have endured more in your short life than many who live to see their ninetieth year. It would be astonishing if you were not so affected. You are soul-sick, you need to heal the wounds that cannot be seen. I cannot remove your memories, but I can offer you a sanctuary, safely away from everything, where you may find peace, in time. I will help you as best I can. We trolls were here before your first ancestors pulled their longboats onto the spit of land where your castle stands today. Not all our knowledge is based on magic. I can help, if you will let me."

She wiped her tears from her cheeks and managed to nod. She was bone-weary, physically and emotionally. She was at the dregs of her strength. She looked around, thinking she could just lay down on this shelf and sleep, sleep for days, for weeks.

Grand Pabbie could tell she was about to collapse. "Come, Elsa. You don't need to sleep on rocks like we do. There is a small cavern near here that a human would find comfortable. Kristoff built and furnished it. It is clean and dry, and he won't be be back for a while." He held out his hand and helped her to stand up and led her away.

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Elsa slept until the next evening, almost a full day. When she woke up she was momentarily disoriented; she couldn't remember where she was. Frightened, she sat up hastily, then threw off the blanket and stood looking around.

Instead of a room with windows and painted walls, she was in a cave. Then she remembered that she had come to the trolls, seeking help from Pabbie. She sighed, then sat back down on the bed where she had spent the night.

The cave was warm and even though Elsa wasn't sensitive to cold temperatures she enjoyed the warmth. She suspected heat from whatever volcanic activity in the area came through the steam vents and kept it comfortable. It had a small opening, covered by a curtain, leading outside. There was the bed, a chair, a small table, and a chest. There was a wash basin and pitcher on the table. Even though it was a cave, it was clean and neat. The furniture was rustic, although displaying fine workmanship and care in construction. It reflected what she knew of Kristoff – competent, honest, no frills.

There was a rumble, then Pabbie's voice came from outside the curtain, "Elsa, may I come in?"

"Yes, Pabbie. Please."

He rolled in and asked, "Did you sleep well? You must be hungry and thirsty by now and Bulda and the others would be glad to feed you dinner."

"Thank you. But there is something else I need first … " she was embarrassed and not quite sure how to ask for what was becoming rather urgent.

"It's just outside and down a few yards. There's another opening, and inside is a deep vent. Kristoff build a seat over the vent, so there's no danger of falling in." He chuckled as she blushed and walked quickly out through the curtain.

When she returned, she said, "I think I'm ready for something to eat now, if I'm not too much trouble."

Pabbie and Elsa walked back to where the other trolls were, and Bulda and the other women waved her over to sit on one of the low stone shelves again.

"We have stew and soup and some glogg, Elsa. I hope that's enough"

"I'm sure it will be, Bulda. If I may ask, how do you know how to cook?"

"How do you think Kristoff got so big? When he came to us, he wasn't the first one we've taken in. We are an ancient, long lived race. I've got recipes that your ancestors would recognize, although the earliest ones, for roast bear, start with 'find and kill a bear'!"

Her husband Cliff piped up, "No, that one starts with 'make a stone axe', remember?"

Elsa's mind reeled as she began to grasp just how long trolls lived. She and Pabbie would have much to talk about, indeed.

After eating and thanking Bulda for taking the time to cook for her, she asked Pabbie, "I need to go check on Olaf and Marshmallow. I had to take them to another valley so they wouldn't be found. It's not far, so I won't be gone long."

"By all means, Elsa. This is now your home, if you wish it. When you return, we can talk about what you want to do and how I can help you begin to heal."

"Thank you, Pabbie. I don't know how to tell you how grateful I am."

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When Elsa returned to the troll valley, it was after sunrise. It had taken her longer than she planned to find the hidden glen where she had left Olaf and Marshmallow. In the dark, even with her magic to create a light, it was slow going. She needed to be careful not to walk off a cliff or into a deep fissure, or her 'death' would become real instead of faked.

Once she found her two snowlems, they talked for a while. She hadn't really explained what was going on when she had taken them away from the site of her Ice Palace, and she needed to make sure that Olaf, in particular, understood that he could no longer go back to Arendelle to play with Sven or Anna.

"Never?" he asked.

"No, honey. I know it's hard to understand, but it's very important that you never go back there. It's awkward to explain, but I needed to leave, and I needed to be sure that Anna wouldn't follow me," Elsa explained patiently.

"Like last time when she found you at the Ice Palace?" Olaf said.

"Exactly like last time. I can't let her find me now, and if anyone sees you, they'll know that I'm still alive, and they'll follow you here and find me."

"Okay." He had a sad face on, then brightened and said, "Does this mean the three of us will be able to play together all the time?"

Elsa laughed, "Yes, Olaf. It does. Not every day, because I need to work on some things with Pabbie. But I will come here and play with both of you as often as I can."

"Yay! You never had time for me before! This is great!" and Olaf skipped around the clearing, made a snowball and threw it at Marshmallow.

Elsa's stomach flipped as she realized what he said; she had neglected him, because she was too busy being Queen. She hadn't realized that he cared. Well, she wasn't Queen anymore, and she would make the time for her little guy.

"Alright, you two. I'm going back to the trolls now. Remember, stay in this valley, and don't let anyone see you." The valley she had found was high and remote, and certainly off any beaten paths. But she wanted to emphasize the need to stay hidden.

They nodded and waved, then Marshmallow rolled a snowball bigger than Olaf and started chasing him.

Satisfied that they would be able to amuse themselves, Elsa started back to the Valley of Living Rock.

The trolls were generally inactive during the day. None of them were awake to greet her. She was still a little tired, so she decided that sleeping until the evening, when Grandpabbie would be awake again, was the best course of action. She returned to her little cave. _"I'm going to become a nocturnal creature, it seems, sleeping by day and awake at night,"_ she mused. Well, all the better to disappear into the mists of memory.

One other reason for meeting with Marshmallow and Olaf was to recover a sack of things she had taken with her from the castle and left with them. Some clothing, mostly simple, sturdy dresses in wool and thick cotton. Not her own, she had taken them from the supplies Gerda kept for servant women who might need them. Some of her own nightclothes and other sundries, and a small bag of gold coins. The gold was from her personal account, from a box she had kept in her bedroom in fact. It was enough money to keep a large family in comfort for a year. It would last her longer than that.

She doubted she would need much now that she would be living with the trolls, but the vague plans she had made for disappearing had included the realization that she might need to purchase food or other items. Or buy passage on a ship to somewhere far away, America maybe. Elsa knew that there had been some emigration from Scandinavia to America in the last twenty years. A fresh start where no one knew anything about Snow Queens had sounded like a good thing.

Packing her things away in the chest, she changed into a nightgown, crawled under the blanket and was asleep in moments.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Kudos to those who figured out that Elsa had gone into hiding while trying really hard to cover her tracks. There are a couple of TVTropes that cover this situation: "Never Found the Body" and "Faking the Dead". Both will come into play again later in the story.

I would NEVER put a major character death in a story without warning you all.


	3. Memorial Service (May 4, 1841)

" _If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled?"_ _ **  
― Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes**_

It was the last day of the mourning period she had decreed for Elsa and the memorial service would be the last of the official mourning events. Anna had walked dutifully to the hill and listened to the invocations that the Bishop intoned in front of the new stone set between her parents' cenotaphs. Another stone with no one beneath it.

" _What is it with this family?"_ Anna thought as she stared at it, a deep frown on her face. _"We can't seem to do anything in the traditional way, like, I don't know, dying in a way so those of us left behind can be sure, can have a sense of closure."_

Kristoff stood beside her. As a member of the nobility and her betrothed, he had an official place in all the protocol now. They were well into planning the wedding and coronation, which would take place as soon as they could reasonably expect their foreign guests to arrive. For political reasons, and to try to banish the gloom in the kingdom that losing Elsa had caused, Anna didn't want to wait any longer than she had to. And, the sooner she could get out from under the cloying and stodgy thumb of the Royal Council the happier she would be.

Finally, The last prayer was said, the last hymn was sung and the service was ended. Anna nodded at the Bishop, and he and all the other dignitaries as well as the common folk of Arendelle walked back down the hill to Arendelle. It took a while, the crowd was large, but eventually it was just Anna and Kristoff. And her guards, but they retreated far enough down the hill to give Anna her privacy for some last moments at the stones.

She stared at Elsa's stone for a moment, not knowing what to say. Her sister wasn't there; she was … somewhere else. Dead down a crevice, or … who knew? _"Damn you for leaving me like this,"_ Anna thought for the thousandth time. _"You said you'd never leave me again, Elsa. How could you do this to me?"_ Anger was certainly stronger than grief in Anna's heart at the moment. She knew the grief would come, and she was afraid for when it did. For now, she used her anger and disappointment as a shield, to push that time as far away as she could.

"Let's go," she said, and turned to leave. Kristoff glanced one last time at the stones, and followed her back to a life without Elsa, without even the reminders of Elsa that the month of mourning brought.

When they returned to the castle, Kristoff said to Anna, "I'm going to go change clothes. Meet you for lunch? It's midafternoon, and I know you didn't eat much breakfast."

"Yeah, that makes sense. I'll meet you in half an hour." Anna walked away from Kristoff and took a detour through the portrait gallery. Her shoulders slumped and her steps fatigued from her weeks of troubled sleep, she sought out some comfort from the pictures on the wall.

Once there, she stood and looked at the coronation portrait of Elsa. It was draped with the black curtains that indicated a recent death, but Anna knew those would be removed overnight, now that the decreed mourning period was over.

"Why, Elsa? Why?" Anna was used to talking to paintings, although she never got any answers from them. This Elsa was as inarticulate as Joan of Arc had been when Anna was growing up.

Anna left to change her clothes and meet Kristoff for lunch.

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Anna tried to keep her anger at her sister from spoiling lunch, but Kristoff could tell that she wasn't her old self yet. It made sense, it had only been a month since Elsa … left. Anna wasn't anywhere close to having come to terms with what had happened.

"Anna?"

"Mmmm?" She continued to push the food on her plate around aimlessly.

"We haven't been to see my family since before El … since before. Would you like to go visit and tell them that we're now officially betrothed?" He was hoping that maybe the rambunctious troll kids would get into some mischief that Anna would find humorous. There hadn't been any laughter in the castle for over a month. He was fearful that there would never be any laughter ever again.

The queen stopped pushing food around and looked up at him. "You know, that's not a bad idea. It's kinda late for today, how about tomorrow? No, the day after tomorrow," she sighed. I have the Royal Council meeting tomorrow, and I suspect we'll be arguing past each other for most of the day."

"Okay." Kristoff took a few more bites of his lunch and asked, "You going to tell them that we're engaged?"

"Yeah, and that we're going to hold the coronation and our wedding on the same day. Wedding first, so that the 'Laws of Arendelle' are satisfied that I'm not a flighty empty-headed Princess but a solid, stable married woman with a consort to keep me grounded. Then the coronation."

"So when do you think we can get married?" Kristoff had more lessons scheduled with Kai. He needed to know the time frame.

Anna looked up at the ceiling and he could see her lips moving as she silently checked a calendar in her head. "I think … August. August 2. Three months is plenty of time for the invitations to get to the other kingdoms and replies to come back. Plus the weather should be good for sailing."

"Sounds good."

"How are you planning on spending your day? And tomorrow, while I'm dealing with the Council?"

"I need to finish getting moved in to my new apartment."

Anna had required that he move out of the stable and into a set of rooms in the castle before they announced their engagement. She had insisted because _"I don't mind, at least until we're married. But there are too many snobby aristocrats out there looking for any excuse to sneer about your uncouth manners."_

"Be sure to get Kai to assign a couple of servants to help you."

"It's not like I have a lot of stuff, Feisty Pants." He looked thoughtful. "But since we're going to visit the family, I should bring back some of my stuff from there."

"Ok." Anna finished her coffee, threw down her napkin and got up to get to work. She gave Kristoff a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't let Sven get into any mischief."

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After yet another night of troubled sleep, Anna woke up feeling overwhelmed. Acting as Regent for Elsa had been bearable because Anna always knew it was temporary; that whenever Elsa came back from where ever she was, Anna could turn the job back over to her and relax. This time, there was no relaxing. Elsa was gone, and Anna was the Queen, not just a spare standing in temporarily.

She threw off her blankets and began her morning routine. That was another change – no more sleeping past breakfast. The kingdom wouldn't wait. The bottomless in-basket in the study belonged to Anna now.

After bathing and dressing, she went down for breakfast and the Royal Council Meeting. It was time to announce her engagement to Kristoff to the Council and get on with begetting heirs of her body.

It became one of the more acrimonious Council meetings since she had been declared Queen.

Anna was the giddy, exuberant one of the sisters; Elsa had been practical, methodical. Under other circumstances, Anna would have gone totally delirious planning her wedding, and Elsa would have indulged her wildest dreams. But those circumstances were not the ones she was dealing with now.

"We'll do both ceremonies on the same day," Anna explained patiently to the Royal Council after announcing that she had asked Kristoff to marry her and become Prince Consort. She was Queen, but she was not yet of age. They could override her decisions if five of the seven members voted to do so. Elsa had dealt with them on that basis for three years, and they had never had occasion to disagree with her enough to overturn one of her proposals. On the other hand, Elsa had never presented them with a potential husband, much less one who had been a commoner until a month ago.

"But, Your Majesty –" Baron Bjorn Thorstad began to object.

"Baron Thorstad, I intend to marry Lord Kristoff as soon as we can finish the planning and invite the foreign guests and give them sufficient travel time to get here. The haste is necessary if for no other reason than Arendelle now has no heir to succeed me, except a distant cousin from another kingdom. I hope my concern for the succession meets with your approval? I seem to remember my sister mentioning that you were one of the people most adamant that she and I find a couple of Princes and get busy having little royal babies, 'to insure the succession', I believe the phrase was?" Her glare at him would have caused a lesser man to quail and shut up. She had to give him credit for continuing to push.

"Yes, but – " he tried again.

"But what? If I marry, the law states that I no longer need defer to this Council, that I can be crowned Queen Regnant and have full authority. Is that your problem?"

"No, of course not, Your Majesty. I just felt that perhaps a longer period of time would allow you to regain your equilibrium after the emotional events we have all just lived through." He was clearly trying to regain some modicum of composure.

"I'm fine. And I'll be finer when I am married and able to carry out my responsibilities to Arendelle. Since we are inviting a lot of foreign guests to witness my wedding, and the same guests would be invited to a coronation, it makes sense to combine the ceremonies. End of discussion. Is there anything else?" Anna scowled at them and silently dared someone to comment. "No? Good, meeting adjourned."

They all scrambled to their feet to bow in respect as she stormed out of the Council room. She didn't even bother to slam the door behind her this time.

Admiral Mikael Naismith looked at his colleagues and said, "Well? Anyone want to try to force a vote on this issue? Are there five votes to overrule her? Lord Kristoff has been ennobled, so his status is no impediment to this marriage. For the record, I agree with her on all counts, so ..."

"As do I," said Bishop Norgaard.

The other five members looked unsure of themselves. Finally, one of them said, "I won't vote to stop her. If for no other reason than we'd be castigated and accused of a power grab. Her point about the succession is real and valid, this kingdom needs an heir, the sooner the better. Lord Kristoff is a good man, better than some Princes we've met. And the expense of two separate big events doesn't make any sense, either. So, let her do it her way." He shrugged his shoulders, stuffed his notes into a portfolio, nodded to his colleagues and left the room.

"That settles that," said Naismith. "Gentlemen, see you all next week."

The six men all gathered up their papers and walked out, Naismith and Norgaard trailing a little behind.

"Join me for dinner, Mikael?"

"I would like to, Henrik. Can we make it a little later tonight? I've still got a bit of a hornet's nest over at the Admiralty."

"Eight o'clock work for you?"

"Perfect. I'll bring the wine. That bastard Pierre may be dead, but we still haven't untangled all his business relationships. I'll fill you in on where we stand right now – "

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Anna stomped down the hall from the Council chambers. She hadn't had any destination in mind, but found herself standing in front of Elsa's bedroom door. She hadn't been there since the day Elsa disappeared. Now, for some reason, she needed to … go in.

She stood just inside the door, looking at the neatly made bed. Everything in the room was neat and tidy, Elsa had always been obsessed with an immaculate bedroom. Maybe it was her way to be in control of **something** when she couldn't control her magic and then the habit stuck.

A few tentative steps and Anna stood next to the bed. Impulsively, she threw herself onto the bed and wrapped her arms around a pillow in a hug. Elsa's scent still lingered and it triggered Anna's grief and she began to cry. Tears that had been dammed behind a rigid wall of self-control flowed until Anna thought she would never have tears again. The pillow was soaking wet by the time she had cried herself out and fell into a troubled doze.

She dreamed of Elsa, of course. A few happy memories, then everything turned dark and gray and gloomy. Anna was on the North Mountain again, only there was no Ice Palace. She was on the fjord, only Elsa was nowhere to be seen. She was locked in the library, cold and afraid and dying …

"NO!"

Anna woke up and looked around frantically. Realizing where she was, she fell back onto the bed and tried to regain her composure. She was tired, so tired. If only the last month had been a bad dream.

She got up and left to get dressed for dinner.


	4. Regrets I've Got a Few

_"It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone must give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."_

― **J.R.R. Tolkien,** _ **The Return of the King**_

" _How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep."_  
 **― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King**

Elsa had been living with the trolls for a month when Pabbie approached her one evening as she joined them for supper. She had indeed become nocturnal, like her hosts, sleeping through the day and socializing with the trolls through the night. Her schedule was actually less regular than that; remembering the promise she had made to Olaf she would join him and Marshmallow at least every third day. She found that their playtime together soothed her, even though a pang of sadness hit her every time Olaf did something that reminded her of Anna.

"Elsa, I would like to spend some time with you tonight if we could," Pabbie had waited until she had finished eating.

"Certainly, Pabbie," Elsa replied, then turned to Bulda and said, "Thank you for another wonderful dinner, Bulda. I'm going to get fat at this rate!"

Elsa giggled as Bulda's stubby troll finger poked her gently in the ribs. "You could use a little fattening up, my girl. You were too thin when you came to us! Now, you're headed in the right direction." Bulda gathered up the plates and cup that Elsa had used and waddled away.

"Come, my child. Let us find a more peaceful spot." The younger trolls made the valley a cacophony of tumult on occasion, and Elsa could tell they were going to be rambunctious today. She followed Pabbie to a small cul de sac that they used whenever they needed quiet and privacy. She sat on a convenient depression along the wall, which was actually a quite comfortable seat. She curled her feet under her and waited for Pabbie to tell her what he wanted to talk about.

"Elsa, you have been here for a month now, and I hope that you are feeling welcome," he began.

"I am. You were right to call this a sanctuary. For the first time in years I feel safe, relaxed," Elsa replied.

"Are the dreams troubling you still?"

"No, the incense you gave me to burn while I sleep is doing what you said it would. I have sad dreams, particularly the ones where … where Anna is in them. But not the nightmares of being burned alive, or imprisoned and beaten, or killed. It's helped me a lot. I'm not afraid to sleep any more."

"Good." The old troll sat quietly for so long Elsa thought he might have fallen asleep, except he had not rolled up into the rock shape that indicated slumber in a troll.

"Pabbie, you wanted to speak about something?" Elsa finally prodded him.

"Yes, but it may be troubling for you. If it is too soon, just say so and we'll wait for a better time."

She was a little apprehensive; Pabbie's insights into her state of mind could be unnerving. But she knew he was trying to help her heal. "Go ahead."

"Elsa, we have spoken about why you ran away … " She flinched at the phrase, but it was the truth and one thing she had already learned from him was that turning away from the truth didn't change it. She needed to accept it and deal with it.

"But not in any detail. Do you think you could tell me more? You were the Queen, you had your sister back, you had managed to defeat that attack from Weselton, and then you helped depose the Duke. It seemed to be going well for you and the kingdom."

"I … on the outside, everything seemed to be going well, but inside, I wasn't … quite right. I couldn't sleep without nightmares, and except for brief periods I couldn't take joy in anything, not even Anna's company. It was like there was something gnawing away inside of me.

It got hard to get out of bed every day. The Council meetings were dreadful, our diplomatic relations with other kingdoms were becoming hard to deal with, and it was all because of me. They were still afraid of me. They thought that I had overthrown the Duke, when it was really his own people finally tired of his despotic rule. I was the match, perhaps in going to Weselton, but the tinder was waiting to start the conflagration. Still, the diplomatic notes we were receiving turned hostile, edged with fear.

I was just … tired of it all. When we were little, Anna and I had grand plans for how I would rule Arendelle, and she would be my strong right hand. I read in a book once that the real loss of innocence is the first time you glimpse the boundaries that will limit your potential. I saw those boundaries when I was only eight years old. My innocence was gone with one slip of my foot, and my boundaries became the walls I built around my own heart. For thirteen years I hid away, desperate to protect Anna, to protect everyone from my curse. My duty to Arendelle required it. My coronation oath demanded it."

Elsa hugged herself and worried at her lip. Her slumping shoulders told Pabbie how these memories pained her.

She went on, "And then it all went wrong and I cursed the land and killed my sister."

"But she's alive. True love saved her, and her love for you showed you how to bring back summer."

"Yes, by a miracle of perfect timing, Anna's sacrifice saved me from Hans' sword, saved her from my magic, and saved the kingdom from … from me. She deserves to be the Queen, she'll be a better Queen than I ever would be. I'm broken, Pabbie. I've got no more to give and I don't want to give up any more of my life to duty. And sacrifice."

"But giving up all that hurt you, hurt Anna," Pabbie said as he touched her knee gently, trying to reassure her.

Elsa wasn't reassured; if anything, the reminder of how she hurt Anna made her wince and look away.

"I didn't want to hurt Anna. But it's better this way. She'll be better off without me. She'll marry Kristoff, they'll have children, the kingdom will have a sane and just ruler and the memory of the crazy Ice Witch will fade away to become just another fairy tale to frighten little children. If I am hurt by this separation, if my heart is broken not to see my sister again, let that be my last sacrifice to duty. It's a small price to pay for everyone else's safety and happiness and I pay it willingly."

Elsa had managed to stay calm throughout this entire recitation, he noticed, but at the last, the tears finally came, quietly, softly, like a gentle rain, not the stormy downpours she had wept at other times. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he hoped it meant she was beginning to come to terms with what she had done, and what she had lost.

"Willingly, not gladly, Elsa?"

"Gladly? How could I ever give up Anna gladly? Never gladly. And if there is an existence beyond this vale, and by some miracle I would see her again when we have passed on, I will prostrate myself at her feet and beg her forgiveness for being too weak and broken to stay with her, for breaking her heart by leaving her again. If she could find it within her to forgive a sin so foul, that would be a comfort to me for all eternity, though I burn in the deepest hells for that sin."

She conjured up an icy replica of her crown. "I was wrong when I thought of my magic as a curse. THIS is the curse I was born to." She flung it into the air, then waved her hand to dissolve it into nothingness. "And now I have freed myself of that curse, forever. My only regret is causing Anna the pain of thinking I am dead. But there was no other way. My heartbreak was honed on the whetstone of despair."

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Pabbie and Bulda stood looking down into the little valley where Marshmallow and Olaf stayed. Elsa was playing with them, and their shrieks of laughter echoed from the craggy peaks that formed the valley. Elsa was chasing Olaf, a huge snowball held above her head. He had hit her right in the face with one of his, and now it was time for payback.

Marshmallow beat her to it; he had rolled a huge snowball of his own in the conventional, non-magical way, and now he used it to bowl Olaf over. The combined Olaf-snowball rolled a little ways before coming to a halt. All that could be seen sticking out of the mass of snow were the tip of a carrot nose and three twiggy fingers.

Elsa ran up, and shouted, "Olaf! Are you okay!" She wasn't really worried, but she wanted him to know she cared.

The snowball shook, and Olaf emerged, although one arm stayed stuck in the snow he shrugged off. Grabbing it and putting it back where it belonged, he skipped off yelling, "I'm fine. But I'm going to get you for that, Marshmallow!"

It was getting late, and the sun fell behind the mountains, casting long shadows into the valley. Elsa had created a layer of fresh snow, and now all three of them stood in a line. "Are you ready? One ... two … three!"

They all fell backwards to lie flat in the snow, then moved their arms and legs to make snow angels. Elsa's laughter was a song of joy.

Bulda said to Pabbie, "She's like a child again."

"Yes. She's living the childhood she lost, the one that was cut short. It's good to see her like this."

Elsa was talking to Olaf and Marshmallow; Pabbie knew she was ready to return to the troll valley for the night.

"Come, come, Bulda. We shouldn't be eavesdropping, but I needed to know how she was progressing. Let us leave before she realizes we are not just rocks."

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"Elsa, Elsa, wake up, wake up!"

It was one of the troll kids hopping up and down next to her bed and tugging on her blanket. Elsa sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and mumbled, "What is it, Stoney, what's wrong?"

"Pabbie says you have to hide! Kristoff and Anna are coming!"

A rush of adrenaline helped Elsa practically levitate out of the bed. She stood there, looking around frantically. After a month of living with the trolls, she had gotten comfortable and the little room looked lived in. She needed to put it back the way it was when she had first come to the Valley.

She looked at the little troll and said, "Stoney, go back and tell Pabbie I need at least 15 minutes before he can let Kristoff or Anna come here!"

"Okay, Elsa!" The troll kid curled up into a ball and rolled out the doorway, leaving Elsa to her frantic effort to put everything back to looking like no one lived there.

A wave of her hand and she was fully clothed, although she regretted losing a nightgown. Time was of the essence. Making the bed took only a moment – Elsa had made her own bed for 13 years because she was afraid of hurting any of the servants. Then she opened the chest and loaded everything she had there into the sack she had carried from Arendelle.

She looked around to be sure she had taken anything that said that someone other than Kristoff was living here. Satisfied, she peeked out of the curtain, checking that no one was close, then slipped out and headed up the path away from the valley.

Elsa was now familiar with every path and hollow in the area around the Troll Valley. She followed a trail that she knew circled up to a concealed spot that looked down into the area where the trolls normally gathered. Glancing at the sun, she knew it was shortly after noon. Kristoff and Anna must have set out right after breakfast.

Carefully, she crouched and crept close to several boulders that would conceal her. Peeking between two of them, she could see the trolls surrounding Kristoff and Anna, hopping up and down in ecstatic greetings. Tears came unbidden to her eyes as she looked at her sister. She turned and slumped with her back to the boulder and cursed herself for a fool. She should have gone to the valley where Marshmallow and Olaf were, not come here to wallow in something she could never have again.

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" – so that's why we came, GrandPabbie, we wanted to tell you all that we're now officially betrothed, and we'll be getting married in three months."

At Anna's announcement, the entire clan cheered and began dancing around Kristoff and Anna. For the first time in a month, she felt a smile on her face. Leaning into Kristoff, she put her arm around his waist and whispered, "I'm glad we came. You were right about them cheering me up."

The celebrations went on for a few hours and Anna had sat down on the stone shelf to rest. She had laughed so hard at the troll kids' antics that her side hurt. She was trying to catch her breath when Pabbie came up to her and asked, "Anna, how are you doing? Is there anything I can do for you besides telling you how we share your loss?"

Anna looked down at him and replied, "I'm doing as well as can be expected, I guess, the grief still hasn't hit me with it's full force. I'm still too angry."

He took her hand in his own and said, "Your loss was terrible, Anna, it would be surprising if you did not feel so strongly about it. But know that we are happy for you and Kristoff, and look forward to you becoming part of our family."

"Thanks. We probably won't be up here very often. Now that I'm the queen, it's going to be hard to find the free time. But I promise you we'll come at least once a month. And – " Anna looked away and brushed a strand of hair back, then went on, " – uh, can we come and get troll-fully wedded before the formal wedding in Arendelle? I guess I'm assuming you guys won't want to come rolling down into the city, but I want you to be part of our celebration."

Pabbie chuckled and replied, "Of course, of course. We will throw a wonderful wedding for you and Kristoff. It has been a long time since one of our human children has gotten married!"

Kristoff joined them, carrying the chest from his room. "Hey, Anna, ready to go back? I got everything I needed."

"Yeah, Kristoff, we better get back before the guards come looking for me."

"Guards, Anna?" Pabbie asked.

She shrugged. "Yeah, they won't let me go anywhere without at least four. But we left them down at the pass just before the steam vents. Kristoff showed them it was the only way into this valley, and I swore them to secrecy about you guys being here." She got up and looked around. "This was … fun. Thanks for having us."

"Anna, you are going to become one of us when you marry Kristoff. You are always welcome here, for an hour or a day or a week." Pabbie paused, then continued, "We should probably prepare a room that's large enough for both of you, so that you could spend the night if you wished."

Kristoff said, "Not a bad idea, that little cave I was using would be pretty cramped for the both of us, even sharing the bed would be a tight fit."

Anna had a brief vision of sharing a bed with Kristoff and blushed. "Uh, yeah, that would be great." One of the reasons she wanted to have the wedding as soon as possible was because it was becoming harder and harder not to engage in scandalous activities with Kristoff. As the Queen, she couldn't afford the shaming and gossip that an early baby would cause.

The three of them walked to where Sven was waiting patiently for them. Kristoff loaded his chest in the bed of the wagon, then helped Anna up into the seat. He got in and took the reins, then flicked them to get Sven moving.

They both waved and said, "Bye, guys! See you again soon!" Sven moved from a walk to a trot, and they were soon out of sight.

Pabbie waited a few minutes to be sure they were gone, then sent a couple of the younger trolls to keep watch in case they decided to come back for some reason. He went looking for Elsa. He assumed she had gone to the overlook he knew would give her a good view of the valley.

He was correct. When he waddled up to her, she was still sitting with her back against the boulder, sobbing into her hands.

"Elsa, my child. They're gone. You can come out of hiding now." He wasn't sure that she had heard him, she didn't react to his words. He waited; trolls were patient.

Eventually she stopped crying and wiped her cheeks dry. "I shouldn't have come here to watch. I won't be so foolish next time."

"We will need to make a bigger cave for Kristoff. One on the other side of the valley. And push an avalanche down to block off the quickest path to your cave. We can't risk them seeing you, not if you want to maintain your ruse so that Anna will believe you dead. We'll keep a watch so we aren't caught by surprise again."

Elsa nodded her understanding, then stood. She picked up the sack that held her possessions and followed Pabbie back to her cave.


	5. The Sailor Home From the Sea

" _We all have a Monster within; the difference is in degree, not in kind."_  
 **― Douglas Preston, The Monster of Florence**

" _Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them."_  
 **― Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones**

"Well, Johan, sorry to see you go." The Quartermaster was paying off those crew who wanted to leave the ship's company in Arendelle. It was not uncommon for merchant sailors to sign on for a voyage, then take a few weeks or months on land before signing on to a different ship. This particular ship had sailed to the Caribbean, specifically Cuba, and had a cargo hold full of sugar and rum, consigned to _RSP Brennevin og Confection Import ASA._

Johan grinned as he counted his pay. He was tall and handsome, with a full beard and ginger hair long enough to be pulled back in a pony tail.

"It's been an interesting voyage, indeed. I appreciated the promotion to watchstander – rather keep my feet on the deck than in the ratlines."

"What are you going to do here in Arendelle, anyway? I thought you were from Weselton."

"I was. But I caught the wanderlust and signed up as a Naval cadet when I was 16. The Weselton Navy is no great shakes, but I learned the trade and the skills of celestial navigation. Haven't been back there in years. A few years under Navy discipline, and I decided the conditions and pay were better in the merchant trade." Johan grinned again while hefting the bag of gold coins. He stuffed the bag into an inside pocket of his jacket, bent down to grab his sea bag and throw it over his shoulder.

"As for what I'll do here in Arendelle, I'll spend a few weeks getting my land legs back, then look for another ship. This kingdom appreciates good sailors, it won't be hard to find a new billet. Good voyage to you, sir!"

The Quartermaster replied with, "Good voyage, Västerländsk. You were a good shipmate. If you're still at loose ends when we dock here again, you'll be welcome to rejoin this ship's company."

Johan shook hands with the man and turned to walk down the gangplank. He needed to find a good tavern and wet down his return to land with some good Arendelle ale, then find an inn to rent a room. After that he could look up old friends and acquaintances. He had left out a few key details about his familiarity with Arendelle when he told the Quartermaster his plans.

As he strode through the marketplace, Västerländsk noticed green and purple bunting hanging from every building and lamp post. It seemed that Arendelle was celebrating something. Johan didn't think there were any holidays in August, so it must be some local event being commemorated. He would probably be able to get the details at the tavern. Inn first, so he could forgo dragging his sea bag from tavern to tavern.

He found an inn that he remembered from a previous visit and tried to bargain with the manager for a weekly rate. "Come now, man. It's worth at least a ten percent discount to you, since you are ensured that room will be full for the next two weeks."

"It's not the next two weeks that's the problem, Mister Västerländsk. It's the next two days. The town is bursting at the seams."

"Why is that? I saw the bunting, you're obviously celebrating something."

"A wedding and a coronation. Queen Anna is marrying her betrothed and will then be crowned Queen Regnant. So the town is full of visiting dignitaries and their entourages. Which means rooms are hard to come by until they all leave."

Västerländsk mulled this over. "Tell you what, I'll take any room you have, no matter how small and cramped, and then when the crowds leave in two days you can move me to a better room. With the ten percent discount, of course, since you'll be empty then."

The inn manager thought about it, then nodded. "I can do that. The only space I've got for you barely has room to stand when you're not on the bed. But it's clean and dry."

"I'll take it. After eight months in a hammock on a ship, even that small a room will seem like a luxury," Västerländsk explained. He pulled out his coin purse and paid for the two days. The rest of the payment would come when the innkeeper moved him to a better room.

After dumping his sea bag in the tiny room, Johan splashed some water on his face, dried off with the towel laying next to the wash basin and went out looking for a place to get some food and drink. And more information on the big celebration coming up. There had obviously been some changes since the last time he had enjoyed Arendelle's hospitality.

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"Can I get you a refill?" The barmaid was friendly and well-endowed, and she had been attentive to Johan since he had come into the tavern.

"Yeah, more ale and an akvavit to keep it company." Johan handed her the empty tankard and winked at her. "What's your name? I'm going to be spending a lot of time here, we may was well be friends."

"Brandy, hon. Everyone knows Brandy." She wiggled her hips provocatively as she went to get his drinks.

Johan looked around the room. It was too early in the evening for the place to be crowded. He saw a few Arendelle Navy uniforms, apparently the duty day was over for the ones at the Admiralty. The rest of the clientele seemed to be dockworkers and merchant sailors. He couldn't decide if he wanted to strike up any conversations with them yet.

Brandy returned with his drinks. Johan thanked her and then asked, "Brandy, the innkeeper told me there's going to be a coronation tomorrow. I haven't been to Arendelle in years, I thought you had a young Queen. Why another coronation?"

The barmaid looked sad. "We did – Queen Elsa. But she's gone, we think she's dead. So the crown passed to her sister, Princess Anna. Who is going to marry Lord Kristoff tomorrow and then be crowned Queen Regnant. Everyone's happy for them, but sad because we lost Queen Elsa." She tried to smile again. "Is there anything else I can get for you right now?"

Johan shook his head and she left to check on other customers. He mulled over what Brandy had told him. The news was certainly a surprise. He had been on a sea voyage that had lasted eight months; eight months without news of political happenings in Europe. And Arendelle was a small, out of the way kingdom. Were it not for the magic powers of the Snow Queen, Elsa, no one would care anything at all about Arendelle. He had assumed that there were events in the kingdom that he would need to become familiar with, but the idea that Elsa was gone, was dead, and that her younger sister was now the Queen had never entered into his mind as a possibility.

" _This certainly changes my plans,"_ thought Johan. He drank the last of his ale, threw down enough coin to pay his tab and a generous tip for Brandy and left the tavern. It sounded like he needed to be up early tomorrow to be part of the crowds watching the festivities. _"Queen ANNA of Arendelle, hmm? That might make things easier than I thought."_

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	6. Wedding Days

" _That's what marriage was at its best: You didn't have to tell your partner to look out, that you were falling. They were just there to catch you."_  
 **― Jamie Brenner, The Wedding Sisters**

It was the day Elsa had been dreading for months. Wedding day. Anna and Kristoff had come to Troll Valley several times over the past months, and each time Elsa had gone to see Marshmallow and Olaf rather than torture herself with the sight of a sister she could never hug again.

But … she could not bring herself to miss this day. Elsa could not be at the wedding in Arendelle, but she wanted, no, needed to see Anna wed Kristoff here with his family. She needed to see her sister be happy with the man she loved, to know that Anna had gotten past her grief and anger and could feel the joy of celebrating the beginning of a new life with a partner who loved her. No matter how much pain it caused her, Elsa needed this memory to cherish.

She made her preparations – even though the rockfall arranged by the trolls blocked easy access to Kristoff's old room, it wasn't impossible to get to. So Elsa always took care to take all of her possessions out of the room and put it back exactly as Kristoff had left it. She packed everything up and hid them where no one would find them accidentally. Then she settled herself in her hiding place above the valley, where she could see everything without being seen.

Elsa was sitting with her back against one of the boulders, amusing herself by creating a small fountain of snowflakes with her hands, when one of the troll kids rolled up and unfolded themselves. "Elsa, Pabbie says Kristoff and Anna are almost here!"

"Thank you, Gem. I'll be careful not to be seen." Elsa smiled at the young troll. 'Young' was a matter of perspective, of course. After living with the trolls for three months, she had learned that most of the 'young' trolls were older than her parents would be if they were still alive.

Gem folded up and rolled away, and Elsa settled herself comfortably so she could see everything that would happen in the valley.

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Anna was nervous. There had been a number of events and parties already that were leading up to the big day in Arendelle. It had been a struggle to get people to understand that she was going to be gone overnight for a reason she really couldn't explain. "I just am, okay?" she had told the Council in a rather exasperated tone. "I'll be back by noon tomorrow, I promise. But I need to do this." Her persistence had finally worn them down.

Even Kristoff didn't know what Anna had planned for tonight. She was tired of waiting to be Kristoff's wife. They would spend the night here with Kristoff's family, in the new room they had built for them. And Anna intended for TONIGHT to be their true wedding night. She wanted to become Kristoff's wife in every sense of the word here, not down in Arendelle. Nine months from now, if a baby came, two or three days wouldn't make the least bit of difference in everyone's counting.

But, it was still a slightly scary prospect.

"Kristoff and Anna are here!" The trolls surrounded them as they rode into the valley, jumping and cheering now that the happy couple had finally arrived. The sight cheered Anna and swept her doubts away.

After Kristoff unhitched Sven from the wagon so the reindeer could join in the festivities, he turned to Anna, took her hands in his and asked, "Ready for this, Feisty Pants?"

"Do I have to say it, 'I was born ready!', Kristoff?" Anna's face had a huge grin on it as she understood that this was real, that they were going to get married sunk in.

Grand Pabbie waddled up to them, sharing their joy. "Come, come, children. Let us get ready and join you in trollful matrimony!"

Kristoff and Anna were separated so that the trolls could dress them in the traditional garb. The bower was built and the entire tribe gathered around the blushing, grinning couple.

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From her hiding place, Elsa bit down on her fist to keep from bursting into tears. She knew Kristoff was a good man, honest and kind, a man who loved Anna and would keep her grounded. _"Oh, Anna, be happy. You deserve all the happiness in the world."_ All Elsa had ever wanted was for her baby sister to be safe and happy. More than half of her life had been spent in loneliness, desperately trying to protect Anna. Elsa was alone now, because she had seen no better way to keep Arendelle out of war and Anna safe.

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The ceremony was over, Anna and Kristoff were trollfully wedded and the party began.

"Uh, Anna, you really don't want to drink that," Kristoff suggested. Anna was holding a mug of green liquid, about to drink it down.

"Why not?"

"It's called 'troll juice', and it will knock **me** out with just a couple of sips. You? I'll be carrying your unconscious body back to Arendelle tomorrow." He smirked at his new wife. "And I think we have better things to do before tomorrow, don't you?"

Anna grinned and handed the mug to Cliff, her new father-in-law. "Yes. Yes we do."

It was long after midnight when the party finally ended and the newlyweds were escorted to their room. The trolls had decorated it with moss and gems and Anna gasped as they entered. "It's beautiful, Kristoff!"

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. "Not as beautiful as you, my dear wife." He swept her into his arms and laid her gently on the bed. "And now, may we?"

"We may!"

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On the ride back to Arendelle in the morning, Anna was content to snuggle into Kristoff's side as he wrapped one arm around her and used the other to hold Sven's reins. She let out a contented sigh that got his attention.

"You feeling okay, Feisty Pants?"

"More than okay, Kristoff. I haven't been this okay since … well, since."

"Now we have to do it again for real," he said.

"No, LAST NIGHT was real. We're just going through the motions of someone else's idea of political theater tomorrow. We are married, now. Husband!" And she poked him in the ribs and giggled. He pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head.

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The church was packed. Moreso than for Elsa's coronation. She had been a recluse, and Arendelle a small out of the way kingdom. Until her magic was revealed, of course. That changed everything.

Anna didn't have magic, but the circumstances of how she came to be the Queen was a nine-day wonder. She suspected that a lot of the guests were there to see for themselves that Elsa was really gone. _"Ghouls. Nothing but ghouls,"_ she thought.

The wedding ceremony had gone smoothly, Anna had to suppress a smirk while she remembered how she and Kristoff had become husband and wife two days ago. She was really looking forward to this night, so they could continue their exploration of each other and become even closer.

Once they had been declared husband and wife, the Bishop smoothly continued into the coronation ceremony. He placed the tiara on Anna's head, then presented her with the orb and scepter. She took them into her hands and turned to face the witnesses while the Bishop intoned the ancient words in old Norse:

"Sem hon heldr inum helgum eignum ok krýnd í þessum helga stað ek té fram fyrir yðr...Queen Anna of Arendelle."

Everyone had risen to their feet when Anna turned to face them and they now repeated his words, "Queen Anna of Arendelle!"

Anna looked down at the orb and sceptre and couldn't help one last bit of anger at her sister. _"Oh, Elsa, why? I never wanted this, I wanted to be your right hand, not Queen of Arendelle. That was your job!"_ She gritted her teeth, glanced at Kristoff, then forced a smile onto her face for the crowd. She knew she'd be forcing a smile onto her face for the rest of the festivities.

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The coronation party was in full swing. The band was playing a lively dance tune, the food and drink were clearly popular with the guests. Anna and Kristoff stood on the dais, greeting individuals and groups of people from many different realms and kingdoms.

A small group of people approached and Kai announced, "Her Grace, Arianna, Duchess of Weselton!"

Anna looked at the auburn haired woman in front of her with interest. She hadn't met the new Duchess and hadn't realized that she would be attending the wedding ceremony.

"Your Majesty, please accept my congratulations on your wedding and coronation," Arianna said. Then she added in a softer voice, "And my condolences on the loss of your sister. I wish that I had been able to get to know her better."

Anna nodded, suddenly too emotional to speak. She cleared her throat and gathered herself, then said, "Thank you, Your Grace. I appreciate that very much." Glancing at the other members of the Weselton party, Anna recognized Lady Magdalena Kluge, the head of the Weselton embassy and lead trade negotiator.

Several other delegations were lined up behind the Weselton group, so Anna reluctantly said, "Your Grace, Lady Kluge. I would like to have a discussion of the new relationship between Weselton and Arendelle before you return to the Duchy. Perhaps an afternoon tea? Please let Kai know," and Anna gestured at her Butler, "If we can get together before you sail."

Arianna nodded, then led her group away from the dais and left Anna and Kristoff to the social obligations of the rulers of a kingdom.

Finally, the dancing was over and most of the food and drink was consumed and it was time to wrap up the festivities. Anna and Kristoff went out onto one of the balconies overlooking the courtyard to acknowledge the people of Arendelle who had been celebrating there. Fireworks lit the sky and cheers rose to celebrate the newly crowned Queen and her Prince Consort.

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Not everyone was cheering. Johan Västerländsk had managed to join the assemblage and mingle with the people enjoying the party in the courtyard. He watched Anna and Kristoff wave to the crowd before enjoying the fireworks and then disappearing back into the castle.

He began to move toward the castle gate as the party broke up, intending to finish the evening at his now favorite bar. He had discovered that Brandy was a reliable source for gossip and news of the kingdom and he made it a point to be friendly and tip her heavily. He thought he was now one of her best customers.

" _So, the Snow Queen really is gone. This coronation was certainly less … exciting than the last one I attended,"_ he thought. _"Time to reach out to some of my old acquaintances and find gainful employment."_

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Kristoff was sitting on a comfortable chaise in front of the fire. He had finally been able to get out of the painfully stiff collared jacket and the tight pinching boots. He was in a silk dressing gown, soft and sensuous against his skin. _"Come a long way for a common ice harvester, 'Prince Kristoff,"_ he thought as he sipped a glass of sweet wine.

He and Anna were now in the Royal Apartment that had once housed her parents. Elsa had never chosen to move into them, and Anna had put it off until the wedding. But now, it was theirs. A large bedroom, flanked by two dressing rooms, one for her, one for him. A sitting room, a nursery. _"Wonder how soon we'll be needing that?"_ Kristoff smirked. _"Sooner rather than later if I know Anna."_ Not that he wouldn't enjoy the begetting of heirs, no sirree. _  
_

"Prince Kristoff, my husband, I think it's time for bed, don't you?" Anna had snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around him to kiss his cheek.

"I would never argue with my Queen, Anna." He stood up and turned, then was surprised to see that Anna was wearing absolutely nothing but her freckles. Her hair down, a playful grin on her face, she was so beautiful that Kristoff almost forgot to breathe.

"Well, then, don't you think it's time you swept me off my feet and took me to the wedding bed, where we can consummate our marriage and – " She didn't finish as Kristoff was quick to fling off his robe, lift her into his arms and take her into the bedroom, where their very large, very comfortable bed waited.

"I thought we had consummated it the day before yesterday," he said as he kissed as many freckles as he could find, making her giggle.

"Yes, but they don't know that. Now we have to do it all over again," Anna said as she returned his kisses.

"Ah, the sacrifices a monarch must make for their kingdom!"

Then there weren't any more words, just touches and kisses and passion.


	7. Old Acquaintances Not Forgot

" _Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die."_ **  
― Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith**

"Baron Thorstad is not receiving visitors this evening, my good man. I suggest you return at some other time."

Johan hadn't expected a warm welcome from his one-time acquaintance Baron Bjorn Thorstad, so he had come prepared. He handed a sealed envelope to the haughty butler and said, "I suggest that you give this envelope to the good Baron and inform him that it is in his best interests to read it immediately. I'll wait."

With a rather obvious sniff, the butler took the envelope and closed the door emphatically in Johan's face. Johan leaned against the doorpost, mentally counting seconds. The door opened right on time, based on his estimate of how long it would take the butler to walk to his master's presence and for Thorstad to read the note.

His face still set in a disdainful glare, the butler gestured to invite Johan into the manor, then shut the door and led him to Baron Thorstad's study.

"Thank you, Nils. You may go." Thorstad was sitting at his desk, his face a picture of someone who had just bitten into an apple to find half a worm.

Johan kept himself from smirking. No sense in antagonizing the man, after all. They had worked together before, and Johan needed at least one ally in Arendelle to accomplish what he needed to do.

"Sit, 'Johan', by all means get comfortable," Thorstad said as he waved at a chair.

"Thank you, Bjorn. Nice to see you again." Johan made himself comfortable.

"Apparently the reports of your death were greatly exaggerated." The sour look never left Thorstad's face.

"Yes, well, otherwise the escape wouldn't have worked now, would it?" Johan let a bit of smug satisfaction creep into his tone.

"And why have you returned to Arendelle?"

"Originally, to find a way to make Queen Elsa pay for what she had done to me. But imagine my surprise when I arrive to find Queen Elsa dead and Queen Anna and her reindeer herder on the throne."

Thorstad blew out a long breath and slumped in his chair. "Yes, well, there's a rather long story about that … "

Johan looked at him and said, "I've gotten one version of it from the bar room gossips. I imagine your sources are somewhat better connected. And what happened to our friend Rob Pierre? The tale I heard was pretty wild." Johan looked around. "And isn't there somewhere more comfortable for us to tell our stories? Someplace with a comfortable fire and perhaps some spirits to warm us?"

Thorstad merely grunted, then got up and gestured for Johan to follow him. He led the way to his study, where a fire in the fireplace and a well-stocked sideboard with an array of spirits and liquors waited. Thorstad grabbed a bottle and two glasses, then sat in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. Placing the glasses on a side table sitting between the chairs, he poured to fill them, corked the bottle, picked up one glass and took a long swallow. "Help yourself, Hans. I'm not going to serve you."

"Please, call me Johan. At least in public. Hans Westerguard is dead, as everyone knows." Hans picked up his glass, sniffed at it and smiled at the bouquet, then took an appreciative sip. "What, no toast to the new Queen?" He sat in the other chair and swirled the liquor in the glass.

"I'll ask you again, Hans, why are you here?"

"Truthfully, Bjorn? I have nowhere else to go. The Southern Isles are right out, and now that the Duke is enjoying the fine weather and wild beasts of Australia, Weselton got crossed off my list. So, Arendelle was my only choice. Since I have a score to settle here with the monarch, it seemed prudent. Besides, my good friend Bjorn Thorstad was here, and I knew I could count on your help." Hans smirked and took another sip of his drink.

"My help may not be worth as much as you think. When Pierre, damn his soul, made his attempt to wipe out the Queen and most of the rest of the nobility of Arendelle, it cast suspicion on anyone who had been doing business with him. I had Naismith and the rest of her minions crawling through my books for months, looking for any hint of complicity with his mad scheme."

Hans looked at Thorstad speculatively. "And, yet, here you are. So obviously they didn't find anything, or you and Pierre would be together swapping stories in hell."

Thorstad grunted, took another swallow of his drink, then refilled his glass before replying. "No. I had taken great pains to never write down anything about what Pierre was planning. Of course, what I thought he was planning, and what his actual strategy was were two different things."

He then told Hans as much as he knew, and had learned during the investigation. " – and I would have been on that reviewing stand with the Queen and the rest of her council! So I feel no regrets at the passing of our one time colleague Rob S. Pierre!" Thorstad finished the story with obvious indignation that he himself could have been murdered. Hans controlled the urge to roll his eyes at the man's naivete.

Hans decided to be conciliatory. "Well, Bjorn, Pierre seemed to be on the up and up, at least when we were planning to woo the Princess Anna." He ground his teeth as he remembered how he had come so close to taking the throne of Arendelle. He refilled his glass and stared rather moodily into the fire.

Thorstad let him brood for a few moments, then asked, "So, how did you escape, Hans?" He wasn't sure he'd get an answer, but he knew him well enough to think that Hans would never pass up a chance to talk about himself.

Taking a long swallow of his drink, Hans began, "The Duke turned out to be most helpful. Even once I was sentenced to exile on the worst piece of rock in the kingdom of the Southern Isles, I was not bereft of resources. There were still friends and even members of my family who were willing to help me. It didn't take long for me to figure out that the garbage detail was the path to freedom."

"The garbage detail? My word, that sounds … "

"Disgusting? Yes. Crazy? Not really. We took carts of garbage and dumped them into the sea. Didn't matter what the weather was, rain or shine or howling storm … it got me out of the barracks and in a place where I could escape by swimming away from the island. But if I jumped into the sea, I needed someone to rescue me. And that's where the Duke came in … "

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The howling wind was driving the rain sideways. The men pulling the carts were thoroughly soaked and freezing from the sleet of a November storm in the northern latitudes. Hans was just as miserable as his companions, but he knew this was perfect for his plans.

Even in the hellhole that was the Southern Isles most secure prison colony, the prisoners were allowed to send and receive letters, and, if they were well connected (as Hans was), even have the occasional visitor. Resourceful fellow that he was, he made contacts and friends in prison, with inmates and guards alike. He could still put a gold coin into the right pocket as necessary. One such coin got a letter smuggled out to the Duke of Weselton. More letters were exchanged, in ways that kept them from the prying eyes of the guards. Agreements had been made, a promise of a fishing trawler in the right place at the right time.

It was tricky to set up. But there were prisoners who had privileges that got them time away from the prison and leave to visit a nearby fishing village. One such was bribed by Hans to make contact with that particular Captain of the fishing trawler. The day of the attempt had to be when it was storming. The trusty prisoner would set up a way to tell the Captain when the day came that Hans needed him. The garbage detail always did their work at the same time of day, so that was no problem.

Today Hans would discover if those promises were worth the paper they had been scrawled on. If his somewhat shaky chain of 'friends' had done their jobs, Hans would soon be free. If not … Hans would be dead, just another piece of flotsam on the white-capped waves of a November storm. But Hans had always been willing to take risks if the reward was big enough.

"You, Westerguard! Get that garbage dumped so we can get back to the barracks!" The guard shouted at Hans and took a swipe at him with his baton.

"Yes, sir, right away!" Hans pulled his handcart to the edge of the cliff where they dumped the garbage. He was the last inmate, the others were already on their way back to the prison compound, almost invisible in the storm from ten meters away.

Hans took a quick look over the edge. The cliff was high enough that if he screwed this up, he'd die on the rocks below for real. His guard looked at the path where the others had disappeared and Hans made his move.

"Ahhhh!" he screamed as he went over the edge of the cliff with the handcart, which smashed on the rocks while Hans sliced into the water in a clean dive. He didn't bother looking up to see if the guard had heard him or not, the waves were strong enough that he needed to concentrate on pulling himself to a hiding place in the rocks. The sleet was falling so hard he couldn't see the top of the cliff anyway, which meant the guard couldn't see him.

He shook the water out of his eyes and looked for the promised fishing trawler. It took a few moments, but Hans was relieved when the ghostly outline of a boat appeared out of the driving sleet and rain, staying a few meters away from the rocks. Hans was a strong swimmer and it only took him a few seconds to swim to the trawler and get hauled up onto the deck.

"Are you okay?" asked one of the deckhands.

"Yeah. You got the body?" Hans was focused, they only had a few minutes before the guards would come looking for him.

"Right here." The man waved to a blanket covering something on the deck.

Hans pulled the blanket off and winced. Whoever the man was, he had been smashed around on rocks so that his face was an unrecognizable ruin. He had hair the same color as Hans, though, and was dressed in a ripped and torn prison uniform. His wrist bore the metal shackle of a prisoner, with the number assigned to Hans when he arrived at the prison.

"Looks good. Come on, we need to get him onto those rocks and get the hell out of here." Hans and the deckhand picked the man up, carried him to the rail and waited while the helmsman moved the boat close enough to the rocks where the cart had landed. Then they threw the body overboard to land amongst the wreckage. Hans knew the waves would mutilate the body even further before it was found.

"Let's get out of here." The boat heeled over as the helmsman spun the wheel and they sailed before the wind to leave the prison island behind.

Later, Hans sat below decks, wrapped in several blankets and trying to warm up. The captain of the trawler held out a bottle and said, "Here, this will help."

A few swallows of the brandy did warm Hans up considerably. "Thank you, Captain. Now what?"

The Captain sat down and replied, "If I understand my instructions correctly, I'm to get you to Lübeck , where you will be met by a representative of the Handelshaus Grau, who will provide you with money and other things."

Hans nodded, then took another swig of the brandy.

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" – so once I got to Lübeck, Handelshaus Grau provided me with everything I needed to disappear, including a billet on a trading ship bound for Cuba and other parts of the Caribbean. And that's where I've been for the last eight months, far away from Northern Europe and any connection to Prince Hans Westerguard of the Southern Isles." Hans finished his story and his drink, then poured himself another.

Thorstad had listened with rapt attention to Hans while he told his incredible tale. "That is … quite the story, I must say."

"A most harrowing experience, indeed," Hans replied. _"If only you knew what else I experienced, my friend."_ Hans thought to himself. He had no intention of sharing everything he had learned with Thorstad.

The two men sat watching the fire in silence for a few moments, then Thorstad asked, "So, what do you want from me, Hans?"

"Not as much as you might think, Bjorn. I don't need money. I have no intention of making myself conspicuous. I want to remain quietly in the shadows, plodding away at some nice, dull, boring job where no one would ever think of looking for a dead man." Hans turned to look at his host. "Do you think you could find me such a job somewhere in your trading house, Bjorn? You know I'm competent."

It took Thorstad a few moments to think it over, then nodded grudgingly. "Yes. I think so. Do you remember where the main office for my warehouse is?" When Hans nodded yes, he continued, "Stop by there the day after tomorrow and ask for Andreas Osmundsen, he's my lead manager. I'll speak to him tomorrow and tell him I need him to find a place for an old friend." Thorstad scowled, then added. "I'll leave it to you to convince him where you'll actually fit in."

"Sounds fair. I'm sure he and I will get along." Hans stood and said, "Thank you. For your hospitality and your help. You won't regret it. I'll take my leave now."

"I assume you can find your own way out?"

"Yes, no problem. Good night."

Thorstad spent a long time brooding as the fire burnt down, wondering what sort of mess he had gotten himself into this time.

 _"Oh, stop worrying, Bjorn. He said he just wanted to be inconspicuous."_

But a little voice kept nagging at him. _"Then why are you so uneasy with that idea?"_

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When Hans got back to his rooming house, he pulled out a teak box that he had hidden under some loose floorboards. Placing it carefully on the bed, he unlocked it and looked at the items nestled in their padded compartments. Items that had been acquired at great cost, but would give him the revenge he thirsted for.

 _"Oh, Anna, since your damned sister is beyond my reach, I'll just have to take a double measure of revenge on you."_

He closed and locked the box again, then replaced it in his hiding place. It would take some time to get in a position to use the items, but he had learned patience in the last eight months.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I've been remiss lately in failing to thank my beta, stillslightlynerdy, for her stellar work as my beta!

Additionally, I have recently gotten more help from jedijae when Real Life (tm) has overtaken nerdy, like when she disappeared for week for a vacation. At Universal Studios. Seeing Harry Potter. Hmmph.

In any case, jedijae is also a great author here on fanfiction dot net. She recently finished a marvelous story entitled "The Once and Future Queen" which is a modern AU but has all the elements that made us love the movie. Her newest work is "Pin My Wings", another modern AU where Elsa is the Queen of a small nation and Anna, feisty pants that she is, stormed off to join the Army and become a paratrooper when she and Elsa had a falling out.

Go, read both of them!


	8. We're Going to Have a Baby

" _If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."_  
" _(Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, deerit nihil.)_ "  
 **― Marcus Tullius Cicero,** _ **Letters to His Friends, Vol 2: Books 7-12**_

Elsa was in awe of the archives GrandPabbie allowed her to study. The trolls had been in this land since before men, since before the glaciers had covered the world in ice and then retreated. They collected and cherished knowledge – studying, learning, storing it safely away from harm.

The cave where she sat was deep and dry. Most caves were damp and cold, but this one was dry and cool. Like her living quarters, she suspected the temperature and humidity were the result of the geothermal activity in these mountains. Whatever the reason, the cave was the perfect environment to preserve the documents that had been accumulated over the long years. Elsa wondered if troll magic helped in the preservation and made a mental note to ask Pabbie.

The oldest documents were crude drawings on scraped animal hides. The most recent had the imprimatur of the Arendelle University.

Elsa loved books. In the long years of her isolation, she spent most of her days with them. Some to study, to learn the craft of being the ruler of a kingdom. But others, others were her window to a world beyond the walls that confined her. They were magical, transporting her to other times and places, introducing her to people who had been and never were. To be allowed to study here was a gift beyond price.

Pabbie would help her with the translations of some of the more obscure dialects and languages. She quickly became fluent enough in all forms of Futhark that his aid was no longer necessary when reading histories of the people who became the Vikings who had eventually founded Arendelle as a kingdom.

It had been six months since she had come here seeking Pabbie's help. She no longer needed the incense to prevent her nightmares. The long talks Elsa and Pabbie had shared helped her understand and accept everything that had happened to her – the good and the bad. She was more at peace with herself, comfortable in her own skin for the first time since she had been an eight-year old child. She was not totally healed yet, but she had made great progress.

Absorbed as she was in a scroll that dated to the founding of Arendelle, Pabbie's words startled her into a little squeak.

"I'm sorry, Elsa, I did not mean to alarm you," the old troll said. "I merely came to tell you that Kristoff and Anna are coming, and you need to stay out of sight until I send one of the little ones to tell you they are gone."

"Do I need to go visit Olaf and Marshmallow?"

"No. Kristoff has never been to this cave. You can continue your studies without worrying that they will find you. I'll send Stoney or Gem to tell you when they've left."

Elsa asked, "Isn't this out of their regular schedule of visits?"

"Yes, it is. So I am interested to see why they have chosen to come at this particular time." Grandpabbie turned and waddled out of the cave, leaving Elsa to suppress a nagging worry that something was wrong, something that had brought Anna to ask Pabbie's advice.

 _"Stop b_ _orrowing trouble, Elsa. Not everything is a crisis in the making,"_ she chided herself before returning to the scroll that described the coronation of her many-times Great Grandmother.

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 _"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."_  
 **― Carl Sandburg**

Kristoff helped Anna down from the sled, then took her hand and walked toward the large group of trolls that were hopping up and down to welcome them. He looked at Anna and when she looked back at him with a shy smile, he thought he would burst before they told GrandPabbie why they had come.

"Kristoff, Anna, how nice to see you so soon! What brings you here?" GrandPabbie approached the couple.

Anna giggled and leaned into Kristoff. "Pabbie, Bulda, everyone. Kristoff and I have an announcement to make." She paused to ratchet up the drama, took a deep breath, then exclaimed, "We're going to have a baby!"

The trolls were silent for a moment, blinked once, looked at each other, then broke into wild cheers and tumult.

Bulda took Anna's hands in her own and for the first time Anna saw tears in her mother-in-law's eyes. "Oh, Anna, what wonderful news! I'm going to be a grandmother! Come, come, sit down over here, you need to take care of yourself now!" She led Anna over to a low stone shelf and sat her down.

Cliff, meanwhile, was pounding Kristoff's back and exclaiming, "That's my boy! I can't wait to teach to little one everything they need to know to earn their fire crystals! Come on, let's celebrate this happy event!"

Food and drink were brought out and everyone partied for the rest of the afternoon. As the sun sunk behind the cliffs, Anna finally had to stand up and tell everyone, "Thank you, thank you so much. But we need to get back to Arendelle. I wanted you to be the first to know, and tomorrow we'll be announcing it to the whole kingdom."

As Cliff, Bulda, and Pabbie watched the happy couple leave in the sled, Bulda said, "Elsa will be so happy to hear this."

"Yes. Although it will be bittersweet for her," Pabbie responded.

"Elsa? They're gone, and I have wonderful news!" Pabbie called out as he entered the archive cave.

She turned at his words, then carefully rolled up the scroll she was reading and replaced it in the storage rack. "What news, Pabbie? Is everything okay?"

"More than okay, my child. Anna is pregnant," replied Pabbie.

Elsa felt her knees go weak and sat down abruptly. "Pregnant? Oh. Oh!" It took a moment before tears began to run down her cheeks.

"Elsa, Elsa! This is good news," Pabbie tried to comfort her.

"I know, I know!" Elsa sobbed. "These are happy tears, really they are." Her baby sister was pregnant. She was going to be an aunt. An aunt who would never be able to hug her sister or hold her baby. Maybe the tears weren't so happy after all.

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Hans found himself standing in a crowded courtyard once again. There had been posters on every flat surface in town plus a story in the newspaper announcing a special declaration today at noon at the castle. There was a buzz of speculation in the crowd, Hans noticed, each theory wilder than the last. _"Another war with Weselton!"_ seemed to be the most popular.

Precisely at noon, the balcony doors opened and Kai, Anna and Kristoff came out to stand before the crowd.

"All pay heed to Queen Anna of Arendelle!" bellowed Kai, then turned and bowed as the royal couple stepped up to the railing. The crowd fell silent.

"People of Arendelle!" Anna began. "Prince Kristoff and I have news to share with you, wonderful news!" She leaned into her husband, who put a protective arm around her waist.

Anna took a deep breath and said, "We're having a baby!"

It took a second for this to sink into the crowd's understanding, then they broke out in ecstatic cheers.

Hans made a show of cheering so he wouldn't stand out, but he moved toward the castle gates as soon as it wasn't conspicuous. At least he could get to the tavern before the celebrating crowds filled it up.

Hans had barely taken a swallow of his first ale when a familiar voice said, "Mind if I join you, Johan?"

Hans looked up to see his boss Andreas Osmundsen standing next to the table. Hans smiled and gestured at the other chair at the table, then waved at Brandy to indicate the need for another drink.

"So, interesting announcement by the Queen, hey?" Osmundsen said after thanking Brandy for his ale.

"Indeed. Sounds like it was a … busy honeymoon," smirked Hans, faking an enthusiasm he definitely didn't feel.

Laughing, Osmundsen said, "Well, the kingdom needed some good news for a change." Taking another drought of his ale, he continued, "Been meaning to talk to you, Johan. About your work."

"Oh?" Hans feigned concern.

"All good, all good, don't worry. I must say I've been impressed with your work. Would you be interested in more responsibility?"

"If more coins in the pay packet go along with more responsibility, then I'm interested," Hans replied.

"Don't worry about that, Baron Thorstad is not a pinchpenny when it comes to good talent. It's hard to find men who are smart enough to run things instead of just taking orders." Osmundsen finished his ale, then stood. "Well, I'd stay and celebrate the kingdom's good fortune, but my wife expects me home for supper. Sober, and home. Come see me in the morning and I'll tell you what I've got in mind."

"Thank you, Andreas. I most certainly will!" Hans waved his tankard in farewell as his boss threaded his way through the crowd. Then he waved Brandy over and ordered a second. He dismissed the possible promotion as something to be dealt with tomorrow.

Nursing his second tankard of ale, he thought about how the royal pregnancy would affect his plans. _"This might actually be better. Arendelle and that damned reindeer herder will not only lose the Queen, but the unborn heir to the throne."_ Slamming down the last of the ale, he threw some coins on the table and left the bar. _"I need to rethink the entire plan. Time to make it a reality. There's a lead time to be dealt with, and a few other pieces of the puzzle to move into place."_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

A couple of reviews made the comment that after the fluffiness of the wedding(s), it was going to be all downhill from there.

Gee, I've really trained you guys well, haven't I? ;-0


	9. The Wrath of Hans

" _They dabbled in dark magic like finger painters in first grade art class, and then most of them were either killed by their creations or ran the other way from the nightmares they unleashed."  
_ **― Katherine McIntyre, Hunting for Spring**

" _...to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."_  
 **― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale**

It had been almost six months since Anna and Kristoff had come to the Troll Valley to share their happy news with the family. They had returned every three or four weeks to show off Anna's progress and get advice from Pabbie and Bulda.

Elsa had changed her habit of visiting Olaf and Marshmallow when Anna came to the valley; it pained her, but she needed to see her sister, see with her own eyes that she was healthy and the pregnancy was progressing well. Even if she cried after every visit, she couldn't make herself miss them.

Pabbie found her sitting in her usual spot overlooking the valley, shoulders slumped, her head resting on her knees. "Elsa?"

She raised her head to look at him, then wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I'm okay. It's just … hard. But I need to see her now." She looked away. "Because I won't be able to see her much longer."

The statement startled Pabbie and he asked, "Elsa, what do you mean?" He came closer to Elsa and put his hand on her knee, worried about her state of mind for the first time in months.

She sniffled once, then looked at him. "I've decided that I need to leave Arendelle. I'll stay until Anna has the baby and I know both of them are safe and healthy. Then … I'll be leaving."

"But where will you go?"

"America. The newspapers you've gotten for me say there is a wave of emigration from Scandinavia to America. I'll be just one more person seeking a fresh start in a place that never heard of the Snow Queen." She continued, "I'll need your help to get some of the things I'll need to take along. I still have all the gold I brought with me, more than enough to buy those things and then pay for my passage on a ship and get settled somewhere new." She hung her head and added, "I need to leave, Pabbie. The pain of seeing Anna, but never being able to hug her or talk to her … it's just too much to bear. I need a clean break, I see that now."

There was a long silence. Finally, Pabbie said, "If you are certain this is what you want, of course I will help you, Elsa. Although we will miss you. You have become a part of our family and have enriched us with your presence."

"Thank you, Pabbie. And you have helped me heal the soul sickness that drove me from Arendelle and … and my sister. I will miss her even more terribly once I am far away from here, never to see her again. But … it's for the best." She got to her feet. "I think … I need to … go visit Olaf and Marshmallow. They love to hear about Anna." She wiped another tear from her cheek and strode away.

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Hans had spent the six months since the announcement of the Queen's pregnancy honing and refining his plans for his final revenge on Anna. He had accepted the promotion at his job, as it gave him broader insight into the economy of Arendelle and the major players in that economy. He also widened his 'network' of information gatherers, frequenting other taverns and socializing with peers from other trading houses.

To Baron Thorstad's dismay, Hans also continued to visit him, discreetly of course, very privately, a practice that made the good Baron most uncomfortable, but one that he couldn't avoid. Hans had demonstrated that he had documents from the Duke of Weselton that spelled out Thorstad's role in the plot to woo Princess Anna and depose Queen Elsa. Documents that would be damning if a charge of treason were to be brought.

Hans had invited himself to dinner and socializing this evening, ruining Thorstad's plans for a quiet night at home. Over drinks in the study afterwards, Hans spoke up and said, "Bjorn, I think you should host a dinner party."

This statement caught the Baron by surprise. "What? Why?" He often entertained, it was an expected part of his social obligations as a representative of Arendelle's nobility and as a member of the Queen's Royal Advisory Council. Business and politics were major activities at the parties and balls. Good food and drink lubricated the workings of government and trade. He was just startled that Hans would suggest a dinner party.

"Because it would do the Queen good to get out for one last celebration before her pregnancy keeps her confined to the castle," Hans replied blandly.

"The QUEEN? Good god, man, are you INSANE?" Thorstad screeched. "A year ago I was being investigated for treason!"

"And after a thorough investigation that left no tiny pebble unturned, you were cleared of any wrongdoing. The Bishop himself couldn't be more pure." Hans took a sip of his drink and smirked at his reluctant host.

Thorstad reached for his drink, which had been untouched until this incredible proposal from Hans had shaken him. Taking a healthy swallow, he glared at Hans and said, "No. It's unthinkable!"

Hans watched Thorstad closely as he took another sip of his own drink and said, "Is it really? If you invited the entire Council and the Queen and her consort, celebrating the impending birth of the heir, is that so out of the ordinary for a man of your standing?"

Thorstad felt warm, the room seemed to wobble a bit. What Hans was proposing was … was preposterous. Wasn't it? Suddenly he wasn't so sure. He drank the rest of the spirits in his glass.

Observing Thorstad's discomfort, Hans continued in his most persuasive tone. "Really, Bjorn? Would it not be a marvelous way to mend fences with the Queen? To reinforce your loyalty to her?"

His persuasion seemed to work. The Baron looked confused, then thoughtful, then said, "Well, yes, I suppose so. You may be right, Hans." His voice gained confidence. "Indeed, I think you are right! Why didn't I think of this before?"

"Well, enough time has passed that memories of Pierre's perfidy have faded, and your association with him was never that widely known in any case," Hans purred.

"Hans, I must say, you have made a most compelling proposition. I shall follow through with this immediately. Tomorrow is the regular Council meeting. I will prepare invitations this very night to present to my colleagues and the Queen." Thorstad seemed inordinately pleased with himself as he made this announcement.

"Excellent, Bjorn. I am so glad to be of help to you." Hans glanced up at the clock over the mantelpiece and said, "Oh, look at the time. I really must be going. We have an early ship arrival in the morning to process through the warehouse." He stood up to leave. "No, no, I'll see myself out. Thank you for your hospitality, Bjorn. It was a most … productive evening."

Collecting his overcoat from the butler at the front door, Hans thanked the man and strode into the chilly evening air of late March in Arendelle, inordinately pleased with how the experiment had gone.

 _"It worked. I was almost certain it would, but this is success beyond my wildest dreams,"_ he thought to himself. He fingered the glass vial in his pocket, the vial that he had emptied into Thorstad's glass in the study.

When he returned to the boarding house where he had rented a small two-room apartment once he had gained employment in Thorstad's warehouse, he hung up his overcoat, threw his suit jacket on the bed, and went to the hiding place he had built for his teak box. Pulling out the box, he put it on the small desk in his bedroom. There was one empty velvet-padded compartment, into which he placed the now empty vial from his pocket. Carefully closing and locking the box, he replaced it in its hiding place, then went to pour himself a drink from the bottle he kept on a shelf in his 'sitting' room.

The furnishings of his rooms were sparse, but he had invested in one comfortably stuffed chair for his evenings – one couldn't make plans if one were squirming in a threadbare and uncomfortable chair.

He swirled the fine brandy in the glass, appreciating the bouquet. Taking a sip, he reflected on his efforts with Thorstad this evening, then cast his thoughts back to Cuba and Haiti.

He remembered the laughter of his shipmates as they passed a storefront with a grotesque painting of a man in a top hat with a skull for a face. The Haitian squatting in the doorway scowled at the Europeans and made an elaborate gesture. "A curse on you, Baron Samedi will not be mocked!" He spat, then stood up and stalked into the shop.

"Who's Baron Samedi?" Hans asked. He hadn't heard the name before.

"Some local god or something. God of death, maybe? The natives have a slew of 'em, can't keep 'em straight. I've been on 10 voyages, been to Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Bermuda, you name the pisspot island hellhole and I've been there. The natives have so many gods and spirits, most of them brought over from Africa, you can't keep 'em straight. The Santeria in Cuba, the Vodou in Haiti, who the hell can understand what a bunch of locals are babbling about?"

"Aren't you worried about that curse?" Hans didn't consider himself a superstitious man, but sometimes prudence dictated caution when dealing with magic. He had, after all, seen magic with his own eyes, albeit nothing could be further from Elsa's ice magic than the steamy heat causing the sweat to run down his skin under his cotton shirt.

"Pfah. Curses, magic, no such thing," scoffed his shipmate. "Let's hit that tavern over there, they have the smoothest rum on the island."

Hans drank with his shipmates but brooded over what he had heard. The next day, he asked the Quartermaster if he knew of the black magic practiced in the islands.

"Magic? Hardly magic. Superstition, all of it," scoffed the officer. He spat a wad of tobacco juice over the ship's rail, then added, "But there are odd and troubling things going on. I've seen what they call 'zombies' around here."

Startled, Hans asked, "Zombies? People who have risen from the dead?"

"Not risen from the dead – more like drugged into slavery. Seen it on some of the plantations. It's a good way to keep the freedmen in line. Get too frisky, you wake up back in the fields under the lash, with no free will and no memory of how you got there."

No free will? That sounded useful, Hans thought. He knew that a European like himself could hardly walk up to a local and ask, "Say, tell me all about these undead, will you?" But a facade of respectful curiosity might yield more information.

Now safely settled in his rooms in Arendelle, he shuddered to remember some of the things he had seen and participated in while he followed the trail. Animal sacrifices, sacrifices more horrific than that. But in the end it had been worth it. He had acquired an ample supply of what the natives had called the "zombie drug".

"For sure, mon, a dose of this and they will be your slave, do anything you tell them, no resistance at all."

Hans had watched the making of such a zombie, but he wasn't convinced until he had tried it out himself, on one of his shipmates he didn't particularly like. A dose in the man's rum, whispered suggestions and then the fellow made a total fool out of himself trying to seduce the (male) drummer in the tavern, which didn't end well, but one can't make an omelet without egg breakage. Being a rather seedy dockside bar, they had just dumped his shipmate's body in the alley with the rest of the garbage.

Tonight's episode with Thorstad boosted Hans' confidence. Dosing Anna's drinks would make her a servile, willing handmaiden to his every suggestion. He smiled at the thought. _"Oh, Anna, if only your sister were alive to see your downfall at my hands."_

Hans thought about the second arrow in his quiver, potentially the most powerful arrow. This had not been acquired from some native island shaman, no, this Hans had found in a dingy back alley shop in Lübeck prior to his ship departing for Cuba.

The wizened crone who ran the shop swore on … something wrinkled and ugly, certainly not a bible … that the glittering dust she presented to him in a flat, round container was truly shards of the magic ice mirror of northern lore. Guaranteed to shatter the sight of anyone who had the misfortune to get one in their eye.

"Yes, their sight will fail them. They will become paranoid, certain that everyone is their enemy. Only this – " she held out a bright blue gem that gleamed and twinkled. "will protect the one wearing it from that paranoia and distrust. The victim of the mirror shard will trust the wearer of this gem."

"How do I know what you say is true?" Hans was gruff, skeptical.

"You don't. Not until you see the effects for yourself." She closed the round container, laid the gem on its top, folded her arms and waited while Hans thought it over. Her asking price wasn't outlandish, not for a man who wouldn't have the opportunity to spend any money for the next four months.

"Very well. I'll take them." He counted out the coins, then took the container and gem. A tie tack, he thought. I'll have it mounted on a tie tack.

He knew how he would get the drug into Anna, he had to give some thought to how to get the mirror shard into her eye. Well, he had several days to plan. He finished his drink and went to bed. He really did have an early ship arrival to process in the morning.

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"Hey, Feisty Pants, how did the Council meeting go today?" Kristoff walked into Anna's study to find her reading something that looked like an invitation. She had a distracted look on her face.

"Huh? Oh, it went pretty well, all things considered. How would you like to go to a dinner party with the Royal Council?" She held out the invitation for him to read.

After a quick glance at it and he handed it back to her. "You sure that's a good idea, Anna? I mean – " He waved at her bulging stomach, a worried frown on his face.

"Yeah, see, Baron Thorstad said it was a last chance to celebrate the new heir before – "

She didn't finish before Kristoff growled, "Thorstad? Anna, I don't trust that guy. He was a buddy of that Pierre bastard."

Anna frowned and said, "But the Admiral's people went through his underwear drawers, among other things, and there was nothing to link him to that nutjob. Besides, the rest of the Council will be there, well, except for the Admiral, he's got some maneuvers or something."

She looked up at him with those eyes that always melted whatever resistance he had to her wild ideas. "Come on, Kristoff, it will be one last chance for some fun before the baby comes. Another two weeks and I won't be able to even waddle. Please?"

He knew he couldn't win. Anna could never resist a party.


	10. The Dinner Party

" _Never put your faith in a Prince. When you require a miracle, trust in a Witch."_  
 **― Catherynne M. Valente, In the Night Garden**

"Are you feeling better, darling?" The voice sounded familiar, but Anna wasn't sure exactly why, or who the voice belonged to. If only her head was clearer, maybe if she hadn't had that third glass of wine ...

Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, her stomach felt like it had that time she had eaten too much chocolate. Until that day she hadn't thought there could BE 'too much chocolate'.

"Hmmmm?" She tried to make a coherent sound. The wind in her face made it hard. She was cold, and sleepy. She slumped against the man next to her in the driver's seat of the sled. They were going fast, she loved fast. But … she couldn't quite remember where they were going or why. "Where are we going again? I forgot … "

"You're safe now; we're on our way to defeat the evil Snow Queen. As the Queen of Arendelle, you have the power to kill her and end this winter." The voice was smooth, reassuring. Anna nodded against his shoulder, then rubbed at her eye. Something, a fleck of dust or ice or something, was irritating her eye.

The gentle reassurance helped Anna remember that she was with her husband, Prince Hans. He had whisked her to safety after a dinner party. A party where her enemies were clearly plotting against her, in collusion with the evil Snow Queen, no doubt. Arendelle was still covered in snow, even though it was April. It was plain that there was a curse on the land, a curse that she, the rightful Queen of Arendelle, could end by killing the witch who cast the spell.

It was coming back to her, not clearly, just glimpses of arriving at the party, the food and drink being served. Baron Thorstad was a gracious host, but as the evening wore on Anna remembered becoming frightened, concerned that she was surrounded by her enemies. She had sneezed when that servant had knocked over the pepper shaker, then dabbed at her eyes with the napkin he handed her as he made profuse apologies, begging her forgiveness for his clumsiness. He had murmured something reassuring to her as he poured her another glass of wine.

As the meal progressed, Anna had become more anxious and concerned about her companions. Their words seemed to have sinister meanings; their glances at her were calculating and cold. Only the footman seemed trustworthy.

She remembered needing to visit the privy – eight months pregnant, it didn't take long for her bladder to fill. She remembered the trustworthy servant escorting her. When she had finished, she had been soothed to find her husband, Prince Hans there, holding out his hand for her, urging her to come with him.

"Come, my love, let us leave quietly. They will not be suspicious of a pregnant woman taking her time in the privy, and by the time they come looking for us we will be far away." Anna had been grateful for his quick thinking, they weren't safe here, they needed to escape.

Her husband had helped her climb into the back of a wagon. Hans had said, "You will be safe from prying eyes, dearest. We need to leave, quietly, before they realize you aren't coming back."

Anna had huddled under a tarp as the wagon moved to the gate. She heard her husband bantering with the guards, who found nothing suspicious about the wagon and told him to move along.

The horse plodded slowly down the street. Anna felt the wagon sway as it turned a corner, then sped up. A small aperture to the driver's seat opened, and her husband said, "We'll be safe in a few minutes, Anna. I have a rented stable at the edge of town. We'll change to a sled and go overland to the mountains. Then You'll be safely away; we can't return to the castle until we are sure it hasn't been infiltrated by agents of the witch."

He was as good as his word. Less than ten minutes later she felt the wagon stop and he opened the doors to the back of the wagon and helped her step out. In her advanced state of pregnancy she needed his loving aid.

"Come, I have clothes for us. We will be unremarkable as a farmer and his wife, traveling to her family for the birth."

After changing, they got into the sled and started off into the foothills, heading cross country.

Anna relaxed at last. Alone with her husband, away from the sinister looks and words of people she was sure were plotting against her, she finally felt safe. Leaning into his warmth, the rhythmic swaying of the sled soon lulled her into a doze.

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Hans had planned Anna's abduction very well indeed. It took more than 15 minutes for anyone to worry about how long Anna was taking in the privy. Even then, they didn't realize at first that she was missing. Kristoff had gone to check on her, and when there was no answer to his knock, he thought perhaps she had decided to lay down in the sitting room or somewhere. He asked one of the Baron's servants to check the rest of the manor, which wasted another five minutes or so.

The only thing the search turned up was that her cloak was missing. But the guards hadn't seen her leave the manor house.

Captain Gunnarsson checked with the guards at the gate to the yard, who told him that a wagon belonging to the Baron's warehouse had left approximately 20 minutes prior. The Captain immediately dispatched men to the warehouse, and another man to the castle for reinforcements. They needed to find the Queen.

Another hour passed before sufficient men had been dispatched to seal the roads out of the kingdom and to search all the ships in the harbor. An entire Marine regiment began a house by house search, starting at the edge of town and working back toward the center.

By the time the Baron's wagon was found in an abandoned stable, along with the clothing left behind by Hans and Anna, several hours had passed and the Queen and her kidnapper were far away and deep into the mountains.

"How could she disappear like that!" Kristoff was frantic.

"If she was kidnapped, we should be hearing demands from her abductors." Naismith was grim. They were still in the dining room of the Baron's manor. A steady stream of messengers came and went with updates from the search. Once they had found the wagon, most of the search of the countryside had switched over to mounted troops.

Unfortunately, Arendelle's military did not have many cavalry, since the terrain was too rugged and for mounted troops to be of much use. And there were a lot of forest and mountain to cover.

"IF she was kidnapped? IF?" Kristoff shouted his frustration at the Admiral.

"It appears so, but there is no sign of a struggle, no commotion. It is not likely that the Queen would go quietly, without putting up some fuss, unless there was some other element at play. And only one man is unaccounted for, a footman that was serving at dinner who apparently was also the driver of the wagon that left during the party," Colonel Nordholm pointed out. "The city gendarmes have interviewed the dinner guests and the servants. And the Baron."

The captain of the Gendarmes nodded in agreement.

Naismith asked, "What does the good Baron have to say for himself?"

"He claims complete ignorance, of course. He has no idea how such a thing could happen, that his footman, or whoever he was would abduct the Queen," replied Nordholm. "He remains in custody. We'll give him some time to contemplate what a charge of treason would do to his business interests and question him further. We are also questioning every employee of the warehouse."

"What do the servants say?"

"That the missing man was new to them, not a regular member of the staff. He claimed his name was Johan and he had been hired to cover the extra work for the evening when one of the Baron's regular servants became ill this morning," replied the gendarme captain, glancing at his notebook. He flipped a page to refresh his memory and then mused, "If the Queen would not go quietly with someone threatening her, there must have been a reason for her failing to call for help."

Kristoff had been pacing while listening to this exchange, racking his brains for any memory of anything Anna had said or done that would indicate that she was planning on leaving the party for any reason. And if she was, why wouldn't she tell him to take her home?

"Prince Kristoff?" Naismith's voice broke through Kristoff's distress.

"What?" Kristoff snarled.

"Was there anything … unusual or notable that the Queen said or did?" asked the Admiral.

Kristoff's shoulders slumped; he couldn't think of anything except that as the dinner progressed, Anna seemed to become distant and cold, not just to the other dinner guests, but to him. He walked over to the dinner table and sat heavily in one of the empty chairs.

"She seemed okay, although she became quiet and aloof through the course of the dinner. At the beginning of the party she was her usual outgoing self, laughing and cheerful and talking and enjoying the party. But as the evening went on it was as if she withdrew and was suspicious of everyone." Kristoff had a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to recall the events of the dinner party.

"Suspicious?" Nordholm asked.

"Yeah. Like she didn't trust us. All of a sudden, she wasn't Anna, she was someone cold and distant."

The other men were silent, clearly thinking about what Kristoff had said. Finally, Nordholm spoke up and said, "Could the Queen have been … drugged? We know the footman who served her is involved somehow, even if he may not be the actual kidnapper. He could have slipped something into her food or drink, or – "

Kristoff said, "She sneezed. He accidentally dropped the pepper shaker, and it made her sneeze, and he handed her a napkin to wipe her eyes. She started acting … even more oddly after that."

Naismith turned to Colonel Nordholm and asked, "Has anything been touched here?"

"No, sir. After we realized the Queen was missing, we detained the Baron and his servants. We called in the Gendarmerie as they are more skilled in criminal investigations, they told us to leave the dining room and question everyone in the parlor."

Nordholm waved at the dining table. It looked like the aftermath of a dinner – plates with cold food and half-empty wine and water glasses stood where they had been left, discarded napkins on the table or the chairs.

Kristoff picked up the wine glass Anna had used and sniffed at the dregs still in the glass. "Doesn't seem to be anything but wine. Of course, I'm no expert." He handed the glass to the gendarme, then glanced down and saw the napkin next to Anna's plate. He reached for it, then pulled his hand back and hissed.

"Prince Kristoff?" Naismith asked as he observed Kristoff's odd behavior.

"Magic. There's something … magical about this napkin."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. After living with the trolls, I'm … sensitive to magic. It's very faint, but there's something there." He carefully picked up the napkin and folded it. "I think GrandPabbie needs to see this. Maybe he can tell us more." He stood and started to walk out of the room.

Nordholm grabbed his arm. "Wait, you're going now?"

Kristoff shook him off. "Yeah. You guys can do all the regular detective stuff you do. I'm going to take this to Pabbie and see what he can tell us. I can't sit around and do nothing except worry about my wife and our baby." He glared at them and stalked out of the room, leaving them to continue the investigation while he went to his family.

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It hadn't taken Kristoff long to change into his ice harvesting clothes, which were still warmer than anything Anna had the palace tailors make for him. He went to the stables to harness Sven to his sled and then left the castle to get back to the valley of the trolls. By the time he got there it was almost dawn, but there were a few trolls still awake to greet him.

He jumped down from the sled and asked, "Is GrandPabbie awake? I need him – Anna's missing, and I think magic is involved." This created a hubbub of dismay among the trolls, and one of the younger ones ran off to bring back GrandPabbie.

Not only GrandPabbie, but Kristoff's adoptive parents came as quickly as they could.

"Kristoff, what's wrong? What do you mean, Anna's missing?" Bulda reached up to take her son's hand.

He told the whole story as quickly as he could, then pulled the napkin out of his pocket and held it out to Pabbie. " – and it seems as though there's magic involved. What do you sense in this napkin?"

GrandPabbie took the piece of cloth, but almost dropped it. "Kristoff, there is very powerful and strange magic here. How is this involved in Anna's disappearance?" The elderly troll held the napkin by one corner, clearly trying to touch it as little as possible.

"We don't know, but it's the only clue we have. After she rubbed her eyes with that napkin, she started acting weird, like she was suspicious of everyone. Then she disappeared."

"There is great evil in this magic. It could be responsible for affecting Anna's feelings. There are tales of a magic mirror, shards of that mirror could change feelings from trust and love to hate and suspicion." Pabbie looked up at Kristoff. "If this is part of the reason Anna is missing, you will need to be very careful. I am not sure how to counteract such a spell. The legends are very old and not clear on how to cure someone affected by the mirror shards."

Bulda tugged at Kristoff's tunic and asked, "You're going to find Anna aren't you? Do you want someone to come with you?"

He looked down at her, heartened by the love in her eyes. "Come where? We have no idea where Anna is or how to find her." He looked back at Pabbie, "Unless your magic can sense her? Figure out where she is?"

GrandPabbie shook his head, his voice sad as he replied, "No, unfortunately. Kristoff, I have no way to find Anna."

Kristoff groaned and said, "Then I think – "

He never finished saying what he thought, because a voice, a voice that he thought he would never hear again, said softly, "I can help." Elsa stepped out from the hiding place where she had been listening with growing horror to the story Kristoff was telling his family. "I can help you find Anna."

Elsa walked up to Kristoff and stood silent for a moment, wringing her hands. "Kristoff, I am so sor – " She didn't finish the sentence as she found herself lifted into a bone-crushing hug by her brother-in-law.

"You're not dead!" He put her down and held onto her shoulders, then shook his head and continued, "Wait? What, you've been living HERE all this time?" A note of anger grew in his voice as he shot an accusatory look at his parents and GrandPabbie. "WHY? Do you realize how Anna felt, how we ALL felt when you … left?"

Elsa hung her head and whispered, "Yes, Kristoff, I do realize." She looked up at him and said, "I will explain it all to you, I promise. And to Anna. And I will beg her forgiveness, and yours. But we have to find her first. Can we do that? Put my sins aside until we find Anna, and she is safe again?"

He had to admit that made sense, no matter how his head was whirling with questions. "Yeah. Yeah, let's go find Anna." He held out his hand to Elsa and tugged her toward where Sven and the sled were waiting.

They climbed into his sled, but before Kristoff could flick the reins to start Sven moving, Elsa put her hand on his arm and said, "Wait. We need more help."

"From who, Elsa?" Kristoff was still a little dazed that his missing and presumed dead sister-in-law was sitting next to him.

"Olaf. And Marshmallow. You said Anna disappeared and you don't have any idea where she could be?" Kristoff nodded. "Olaf can help us find her. And Marshmallow can help us if there's any fighting to be done." She gave him directions to the valley where Olaf and Marshmallow lived. In the sled, it didn't take long to get there, but the trip was passed in silence. Neither Kristoff nor Elsa knew quite what to say.

Olaf came skipping up to the sled when it stopped and flung his arms around Sven to greet his best buddy. Marshmallow came over, too, but hung back a little. He knew that wrapping HIS arms around anybody wasn't that great an idea.

"Elsa, I thought you said we couldn't tell anybody we were alive?" Olaf looked at her while Sven tried to snatch his carrot nose. Kristoff and Elsa got out of the sled and she walked to kneel next to Olaf.

"This is an emergency, Olaf, Marshmallow. Anna's missing, we don't know where she is, but she's probably in danger and we need to find her." She looked up at Marshmallow, "We need both of you to help us." She took Olaf's hand and walked him back to the sled and helped him jump into the seat, then got in herself. "Can you help us find her, Olaf?" Kristoff got in, picked up the reins, and waited.

Olaf looked thoughtful for a few moments, closing his eyes and then pointing. "That way. Anna's that way!"

Kristoff flicked the reins and they were off to rescue Anna. Marshmallow loped along behind the sled, his size made it easy to keep up with Sven.

 _"Please let us get to her in time,"_ Elsa thought. She didn't know what she'd do if …

Elsa squelched the thought and clenched her fists, her nails biting into her palms and distracting her from the unthinkable.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Thanks as always to stillslightlynerdy for her beta help.


	11. To the Rescue!

" _Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect."_ _ **  
**_ **― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix**

" _The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die."_ **  
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones**

The first miles of their journey were spent in awkward silence. The only sounds were the _skritching_ of the sled's runners on the snow and Olaf softly humming a tune.

Suddenly they both decided to say something. "Elsa – " "Kristoff – "

Elsa waved a hand to tell him to go ahead.

"Why? How could you leave us to think you were dead?" Kristoff's voice was strained and Elsa could tell he was trying to control his anger. She didn't blame him for the anger.

"It was the only solution I could think of, Kristoff. Arendelle was under threat again, and the hostility was because of me." She looked away. "I thought that with me gone and Anna as Queen, Arendelle would be safer."

"But how could you leave Anna to think you were dead?" His voice was sharper.

"Because I knew that Anna would never agree to me abdicating and leaving. She had refused to give up on me for thirteen years. I hated leaving her, hated knowing it would hurt her. But I couldn't think of any other way."

"Well, you should have thought harder, Elsa, she trusted you!" Kristoff was almost shouting now.

"I know. And when we find her, I will beg her forgiveness for breaking that trust. Beg her most abjectly. And continue to love her even if she can't find it in herself to forgive me." Elsa spoke more softly, still not able to meet Kristoff's eyes.

He wouldn't let it go. "You need to do more than that! You need to – " He stopped as Elsa turned to him and put a hand on his forearm.

"Kristoff, I'm not the only person in this sled who had to get away – run away – to work out how to deal with a problem that was overwhelming. And I am not the only person who ran from Anna." Her gaze was steady but not accusing.

Her words stopped his tirade and he closed his mouth with an audible click as he remembered leaving Arendelle, and Anna, while he figured out if he could take on the role of a prince. Anna had forgiven him for that; she had even understood why he had done it.

They rode in silence for several more miles.

"I'm sorry."

They spoke at the same time again. Exchanging sheepish looks and awkward chuckles, they came to a silent agreement to leave this topic until Anna was safely returned to them.

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It had taken most of a day, but Olaf had been able to lead them to a remote area of the northeastern border of Arendelle. Elsa and Kristoff saw a small village nestled in a valley and decided that they should seek information there.

"Marshmallow, Olaf, you two stay here, out of sight. We don't want to frighten the villagers," Elsa instructed her two snowmen. Dressed as she was, in the plain dress and cap of any peasant woman of Arendelle, Elsa wouldn't draw a second look. Kristoff was in his ice harvester leathers and would also blend in.

The village was too small to have an inn or tavern, but visitors were rare this far into the mountains so when they pulled the sled into the village, several people came up to talk to them. This also meant that if Anna and whoever had taken her had come through here the chances were good someone would have noticed them. Elsa and Kristoff had considered what they should tell the villagers. They decided that the truth was best.

"Hello, have you seen a pregnant woman traveling with a tall man?" Elsa asked. "She's my sister and Kristoff's wife, and she's been kidnapped."

Kristoff added, "My wife is 8 months along and we're worried about her and the baby."

One of the village men looked at Elsa and Kristoff with suspicion. "Yeah, a man and a woman came through here yesterday, but she didn't seem like she was afraid of him, or that he was threatening her."

Elsa had worried that the truth might not seem credible. "The man is an old enemy of our family – we have evidence that he drugged her and she's convinced he's a friend."

There was muttering in the crowd at this explanation. Elsa was worried that the villagers wouldn't believe them. But she and Kristoff hadn't wanted to lie – being found out to be lying would be worse than not being believed.

A middle aged woman pushed through the men standing around the sled and said, "I'm the village midwife, and I could tell that her pregnancy was wearing on her. I advised them to stay here, so if the baby came I could help, but the man insisted they had to push on."

Elsa's stomach clenched at the woman's words. "Did they say where they were going?"

"Not really, just – " One of the men waved in the direction of the mountain range looming over the village. "There's several passes through the mountains that lead toward Sweden, it sounded like that's where they were bound." He continued, "Still not sure why we should believe you."

Kristoff looked troubled. "We have no way to prove what we're saying. But we could have made up some story that wouldn't sound suspicious. We decided truth was better."

The villagers moved away and formed a small circle, obviously discussing the situation. Finally, the midwife returned to the sled and said to Elsa, "We believe you. If you catch up to them, I think you need to bring them back here. I've delivered many a babe in my time and can tell when one is going to be early. That one is going to be early."

"Thank you. We will try. My sister may be in danger, and not just from an early baby – " Elsa let her voice trail off. "Kristoff, let's go."

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It had been snowing steadily for the last several hours, so when Elsa and Kristoff found themselves at a fork in the trail, there were no tracks to help them decide which way to go. Olaf's vague, "She's that way!" could be down either path.

"According to this – " Kristoff gestured with the crude map one of the men at the village had drawn for them, "– this trail splits and rejoins on the other side of that foothill. How do you want to do this?"

She thought for a moment, then replied, "If we choose only one way, we might miss them. I think we need to split up. You and Marshmallow go that way, Olaf and I will take this fork."

"How can you travel through that snow … ?" His voice trailed off and he shook his head at her raised eyebrow. "Oh, yeah, Snow Queen. Sorry."

"If that map is accurate, we'll meet up when the trail rejoins," Elsa said. He nodded, and she went on. "Be careful. We still don't know who did this or why Anna has been kidnapped. But I doubt it's for some benign reason."

"Elsa, you be careful, too. Magic or not, you can be hurt. Or killed." Kristoff's concern warmed her and reminded her why she had been more than happy for Anna to fall in love with him.

They parted ways and began their trek up the two trails.

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Based on what she remembered of the instructions they had been given to go along with the crude map, she and Olaf were almost to where the two trails converged when they came upon a sled with a hobbled horse tethered to it. There was a cave opening going into the mountain.

"Olaf, I think we've found them. I want you to go on and find Kristoff and Marshmallow and bring them here, as fast as you can, okay?" The little snowman nodded, then ran off on his errand.

She cautiously entered the cave, being careful to peek around any bends in the tunnel before going forward. If Anna and her kidnapper were here, she wanted to sneak up on them.

She came to another bend in the cave, then stooped to look very carefully around the corner. The room beyond came into view – it was large, a high ceiling with glowing stalactites almost meeting the matching forms of the stalagmites reaching up from the floor. There was a smoky mist in the air and the smell of sulfur. A pulsing glow came from what looked to be some kind of lava pit against the far wall.

Elsa stifled a gasp. Anna was there in the middle of the room, wrapped in blankets and apparently asleep on some sort of stone table. Hopefully asleep, not … something more sinister. Elsa straightened up to walk quietly to where Anna was.

"Not so fast, you," murmured a familiar voice. A voice that was burned into her consciousness that terrible day on the fjord more than a year ago. "Turn around, slowly, or I'll kill you where you stand."

Elsa felt the touch of a sword at her throat and cursed that her focus on Anna had kept her from expecting an ambush from behind her. And she had certainly not bargained for a confrontation with a man she thought was dead. She shuffled around on her knees and held still, waiting for an opening to strike him down.

Hans was stunned as he recognized her. "YOU! You're dead!" His sword didn't waver, though, even through his astonishment that a woman he thought was beyond his reach was kneeling before him.

Elsa berated herself as he recovered quickly, too quickly for her to disarm him. Hans had always been quick on his mental feet; during the Great Winter he had managed to change his plans time after time to take advantage of new circumstances. He apparently hadn't lost that skill since she had last seen him. His identity answered the "Who?", and also the "Why?" Hans had the motivation to take revenge on Anna. She wished that she had simply executed him for attempted regicide a year ago instead of sending him home to his own kingdom for punishment.

"I could say the same about you, Hans. We had received a dispatch from your King last year that you had died in prison. And yet, here you are," Elsa snarled, clenching and unclenching her hands, controlling the urge to simply kill him and be done with it. But until she knew her sister was safe, Elsa was helpless - she needed to be sure Anna was safe before she could act against Hans.

"Yes, two ghosts returned from beyond the grave, it seems. How fitting, how very … delicious. Oh, this gets better and better!" He laughed. "I had decided to take my revenge on your sister because you were dead. But now I can take both of you with one blow."

"What have you done to Anna?" demanded Elsa. He ignored her question.

"Go on, stand up, slowly. And keep your hands up where I can see them – the first hint of frost or snow and you will be dead before you can kill me." She did as instructed, grinding her teeth in frustration at her inattention. She had been so close to rescuing Anna!

"Now, this part is tricky, so move very slowly. Turn your back to me, and put your left hand down and behind your back." When she complied, she felt a manacle snapped over her wrist. "Now the right hand." She briefly considered a quick stab at her attacker, but she couldn't see him and wasn't exactly sure where he was standing. She had to be alive to get out of this dilemma, so she let her right wrist be shackled too. It felt like the chain holding her was about six inches long.

"Very good. You can slowly turn around now. Be careful, the sword is sharp; don't want you to cut yourself by accident."

Elsa turned and said, "Now what?" Now her voice was as flat and emotionless as she could make it. She would not display any more of her inner turmoil to a mortal enemy.

"Now we go to your sister," he sneered. The sword never wavered; it was an inch from her throat. She could kill him, but it would mean her death, too. If Anna weren't in immediate danger Elsa might make that devil's bargain, but until she knew that Anna was okay and could get out of this cavern alive and well on her own, Elsa would continue to do as Hans said.

"Let's talk a nice, slow walk over to Queen Anna, shall we?" A small wave of the sword gave her permission to turn and walk to the table where Anna lay.

Elsa looked her sister over carefully; she seemed to be peacefully asleep. "What have you done to her?"

Hans chuckled, "Me? I've done nothing to her. Well, maybe helped her see who you really are. You're the monstrous Snow Queen, who brought eternal winter to Arendelle and killed her beloved sister."

Elsa whirled to face him, heedless of the sword. "What are you talking about? She thinks I died a year ago, probably as a suicide!"

He delicately touched the sword to the pulse pounding in her neck. "Careful, Elsa. A small nick there and you'd bleed out before you could kill me." He jerked his head to indicate that she should move away from Anna. She did, seething at her helplessness.

Hans never let the sword move away from her throat. He knew that the slightest inattention on his part would give her the opening she needed to kill him. He smiled at his dominance over one of the two women he hated most. His revenge on them was almost complete. "You can't help her, Elsa. And, really, you don't need to. I have no intention of harming your sister or her child, now that I have you here."

Startled, Elsa said, "What do you mean?"

"It's very simple. I had wanted her dead, yes, because you were already gone and beyond my grasp. But now you are here, alive. As long as you cooperate, I will spare your sister. You have my word on that."

"Why should I trust your word?" Elsa scoffed.

"For the simple reason that it suits my purpose more that Anna lives to see you dead … at her hand," he smirked.

"What?" exclaimed Elsa. "What do you mean?"

Hans gestured with his free hand. "She believes that the evil Snow Queen of legend has cursed Arendelle under an eternal winter again, and that the only way to break the curse is for the Queen of Arendelle to kill the Snow Queen. Oh, yes, she is also under the delusion that the Snow Queen killed her sister. Now I will wake her and present YOU as the evil witch, and she will kill you to free her kingdom." He went on to explain about the zombie drug and the mirror shard, preening at his own cleverness. Telling Elsa how he had carefully filled Anna's head with the story of the 'Snow Queen' to explain their need to come up into the mountains.

Elsa was horrified. Seeing that his words were having the desired effect, Hans continued, "And since she thinks that the curse will be broken when she kills The Snow Queen, she will find herself standing over your bloody corpse with the sword of your execution in her hands." A cruel laugh. "She'll realize what really happened once the drug wears off, which shouldn't take more than a day. And the thought of her living with that vision for the rest of her life is a far more satisfying revenge than killing her quickly."

"You … monster!" Elsa wanted to scream, but could only whisper.

"Maybe I am, but that's the deal, Elsa. You meekly submit to this, and your sister lives to have the baby. Maybe more babies, if her grief and the mirror shard don't interfere with her marriage to that … reindeer herder. Otherwise, I'll kill you both before you're able to kill me."

Elsa was seething, but Hans was standing closer to Anna now, holding a dagger at her throat while his sword remained a threat to Elsa. She had no choice. She nodded, her shoulders slumped in surrender.

"Very well. You just stay right there. I'm going to wake her up now, and present her with my prize; her loving husband captured the Snow Queen so that his wife can break the curse on their kingdom."

Hans circled the stone table so that it was between him and Elsa. She could see that he still had the dagger concealed in one hand, and would be able to kill Anna if Elsa were to make a threatening move. Her manacles would slow her down just enough to give him the time he needed.

Hans laid the sword on the table next to Anna, then stroked her cheek while watching Elsa. "Wake up, darling. I have a Yule gift for you! I've captured the Snow Queen, and now you can break the curse."

Anna stirred and yawned, looked at Hans and said, "You did?" sleepily as she threw back the blanket. Then what he had said really registered and she almost jumped off the table into his arms. "You DID!"

Elsa fumed, but she could do nothing as Anna shielded Hans with her own body with the hug. The satisfied smirk on his face as he looked at Elsa over Anna's shoulder made her want to vomit. He had won, and he knew it.

He extricated himself from Anna's embrace and said, "Here, darling, take the sword. You are the Queen of Arendelle, her death at your hand will break the curse and free your kingdom from her Eternal Winter." He handed the sword to Anna, who was glaring at Elsa with hatred and loathing. There wasn't the slightest hint of recognition in her eyes.

Anna hefted the sword, took a solid two handed grip and said to Elsa, "I'm going to kill you for what you did to my sister! She was my best friend, and you took her from me!"

Elsa despaired of getting through to Anna, but she had to try. "No, Anna, I didn't. I'm your sister. I'm Elsa."

"LIAR!" Anna screamed and took a step closer to Elsa, raising the sword slightly. "I'll never see her again, you witch. You're going to pay for that, you monster!"

Elsa thought it was hopeless. All she could do was try to leave something behind for Anna to remember when the drug wore off and she realized what had happened. Damn Hans and his tricks to the coldest hells. She looked at Anna and spoke again.

"Let me tell you how she died, then. Her last thoughts were of you. All she cared about was her sister and her baby. She would rather die herself than let anything happen to them. If that was the price for your safety she was glad to pay it. Her last words in this life were, 'I love you, Anna, and I will love you for all eternity.'"

With that, Elsa knelt and laid her head on the stone table and waited for the sword strike that would end her life. She closed her eyes and hoped that her words would comfort Anna in her grief.

Anna began to cry as she raised the sword to execute the Snow Queen. "You took my sister away from me," she sobbed. Her tears flowed so freely they washed the mirror shard out of her eye. She blinked; once, twice, then shook her head and said, "Wait, what?"

Hans had been watching the entire scene with gleeful anticipation. Now he gaped in horror as Anna threw the sword down and screamed, "Elsa! You're alive!" then dropped clumsily to her knees and hugged her sister. He lunged for the sword Anna had dropped; he could still take his revenge on both of them.

Elsa was too fast for him, though. She had no idea what had caused Anna to realize the truth, but she had to neutralize Hans before he could harm them.

She had been quietly freezing the manacles for the last few minutes in hopes of being able to do something, and they shattered easily as she pulled her left hand out of Anna's hug and shot an ice wall at Hans. It pushed him back far enough that she was able to stand, pushing Anna to sprawl on the floor behind her with a quick command, "Stay down!"

Elsa turned to face Hans, both hands raised to push him back with ice that pinned him to the wall. He was helpless. She advanced on him, adding more ice to completely immobilize him. He couldn't move, his arms and legs and body up to his shoulders were coated in ice, freezing him to the wall.

She advanced to stand close enough to grab him by the throat and tighten her fist around it, choking him. She was determined to end this once and for all.

"Hans of the Southern Isles, you have been condemned before to pay for your crimes against me and Arendelle. I showed you mercy once, but you are clearly too dangerous for me to be merciful again. You have convinced me that this won't end until one of us is dead." Elsa released her hold and took a step back, then gestured to extend an ice spike up from the floor of the cavern, aimed directly for his throat.

The spike touched his skin and Hans cried out in desperation, "You won't kill me. That's not who you are!"

She replied, "I am Elsa, daughter of Idunn and Agdar, and sister to Anna. And I am Elsa, the Snow Queen, the last living thing you will see on this earth, you evil bastard."

A final gesture, the crunch of ice punching through flesh and bone, and Hans would never threaten her or Anna again. She watched his death throes impassively, then covered the rest of him behind a thick wall of ice. Let that be his tomb.

"Elsa!" Anna cried out and pulled her out of her focus on Hans. Elsa turned back to where her sister was sitting on the floor, clutching her stomach.

She ran over to her, dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Anna and asked, "What is it, what's wrong, Anna?"

Anna's face was twisted in a rictus of pain and she was panting. "I think … I think my water broke and this baby is coming NOW!"

* * *

Thanks to stillslightlynerdy for the beta help.

Well, Hans finally got what he had coming to him. Yay for Elsa.

The story isn't over - we have a baby to deliver and Elsa sure has some explaining to do.


	12. Deliverance

**A/N - sorry for the delay. Hope this chapter was worth it. The good news is we have most of the last two chapters written, so we should have the story wrapped within a couple of weeks!**

 **Shoutout to my beta, stillslightlynerdy. And for advice on childbirth from one who knows, jedijae!**

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" _My mother groaned, my father wept,  
into the dangerous world I leapt." _  
**― William Blake**

" _You know what the great thing about babies is? They are like little bundles of hope. Like the future in a basket."_  
 **― Lish McBride, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer**

Elsa helped Anna get to her feet, then supported her as they stumbled out of the cave.

"Here, Anna, sit and rest. Kristoff should be coming along in a few minutes." Elsa waved her hand and created a chair of ice with a cushion of snow. Anna sat down gingerly, but she was clearly not comfortable, clutching her stomach and stifling a groan.

It took only a minute or so for Sven to come galloping down the trail, Kristoff and Olaf in the sled, Marshmallow loping along behind. Kristoff didn't even wait for the sled to stop before jumping down and rushing to Anna's side. He could tell she was in distress; he took her hand and asked, "Anna, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She looked at him and clutched his hand hard enough to make him wince. "Not hurt, but the baby is coming. Kristoff, Elsa, I'm … scared. It hurts, and we're in the middle of nowhere and – "

Kristoff took both her hands in his and said, "Feisty Pants, we're close to a village with a midwife. Your sister and I are here and you're going to have a fine, healthy baby." He scooped her up and went to lay her gently on the blankets in the back of his sled. "Elsa, are there any more blankets in that sled?" He gestured to the sled Hans had brought.

Elsa went to rummage in the back of Hans' sled, gathering up the blankets she found there. As she pulled them to her, she uncovered a locked, wooden box. She grabbed that, too, thinking perhaps Hans had left a journal or other notes about the magic he had gloated over, then went to cover Anna with the blankets and put the box in the sled next to her.

She spoke to Kristoff, "Let me get the horse – we can't leave him here!" The horse couldn't be left alone – Elsa didn't know how long it would take them to come back for it and it would need food and water.

Kristoff nodded as he arranged the blankets around Anna and reassured her again. She grunted in pain and reached to squeeze his hand.

Once Elsa had led the horse over and tied it to Kristoff's sled, she got in with Anna and cradled her head in her lap, then said to Kristoff, "Let's get back to that village before you and I and Olaf and Marshmallow have to deliver this baby!"

He grunted, then jumped into the driver's seat, grabbed the reins and urged, "Sven, go!"

Anna winced as the sled moved along the snowy trail. She groaned and held her swollen belly, then reached up to take one of Elsa's hands and squeezed, hard, as another contraction gripped her.

"It's okay, Anna, it's okay. The village and the midwife aren't far. Do you remember you were there yesterday?" Elsa asked, concern on her face.

"Honestly? No. Everything is kind of … fuzzy and vague. I remember going to Thorstad's house, then things get pretty confused." She looked up at her sister. "Was that really Hans? How could I have believed he was my husband?"

"He apparently had brought some dark magic back from his trip to America. And shards of a magic mirror that made you suspicious of everyone except him," Elsa explained. She went on to repeat the tale Hans had told her while he gloated over her with the sword.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Anna gasped through another contraction. "Elsa, this baby wants to be BORN!"

"The midwife said she thought you would be early," Elsa reassured Anna. She continued, "and magic often doesn't make any logical sense. Whatever Hans had, it worked well enough for him to lure you away from Kristoff and make you think he was your husband and that the evil snow queen had killed … me."

Elsa looked away as she said this last. She had a lot of explaining to do to Anna. She wished there were time to do this properly, but … the baby was being insistent. "I … I owe you an abject apology, Anna. And a much longer explanation than we have time for right now."

Anna thought so too, if the glare on her face was any indication. The easing of the contraction apparently let her remember her anger and despair about Elsa's disappearance.

"I thought YOU killed YOU, Elsa! You ran away AGAIN after promising you'd never leave me! Why? Do you know how hard that was on me?" Anna demanded.

"I … uh, yes, I mean, I knew it would hurt you, but it was the only way I could think of to keep you and Arendelle safe," Elsa mumbled. It wasn't convincing Anna.

"Safe from WHO?"

"All the kingdoms that thought I was a danger to them. That kept threatening war. You saw all the diplomatic notes, the hostility. As long as I was around, they would hate and fear me, fear Arendelle." Elsa's voice was sorrowful. She brushed her hand across Anna's hair, trying to comfort her as another contraction took hold. "We're almost there. I promise, we'll talk about this when the baby is born."

Anna couldn't speak through her clenched teeth, but squeezed Elsa's hand and nodded.

Kristoff slowed Sven down as they pulled into the village, then stopped in the small square formed by several houses. "Is the midwife here? We found my wife, and she's having the baby!" Kristoff called out.

As the sled stopped, anyone outside started to gather around it, remembering the story they had heard when Elsa and Kristoff had come through. The midwife pushed her way through the crowd and looked over the side of the wagon, reaching down to touch Anna's stomach lightly.

"Yes, the baby is coming, and soon." She straightened up, looked around and pointed at several of the men. "You, help them get her to my house. You, take the sled and the horse and get the animals stabled. Take the husband with you. Babies are for the women to deal with. Come."

Kristoff looked like he would follow the women, but one of the men put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Come, lad. She'll be fine. Let's take care of the animals, then settle down to wait, we've got some fine mead to help pass the time."

It was the work of only a few minutes to get Anna to the home of the midwife. Two girls in their late teens were waiting for them. Several large pots of water were boiling over the fire and an odd looking chair draped with clean bedding sat close to the warmth of the hearth. They took Anna from the men helping her and began to get her undressed and settled.

The midwife shooed the men out and reminded them to keep Kristoff busy and unworried, then she turned to Elsa. "She is your sister?" At Elsa's nod, she continued, "You can stay, she will need your support. These are my apprentices, one a daughter, one a niece. They are good nurses."

Shortly Anna was dressed in a clean shift that came to her knees. She was sitting in the odd chair, which supported her but left the area between her legs open and accessible to the midwife. Elsa sat behind her on a small bench, which let her wrap her arms around Anna from behind. "What is this?"

"It's a birthing stool. I'm sure you city folk have never seen one. It's easier on the babe and the mother. It helps me to be able to guide the baby out. When you sit there, your arms will comfort your sister, but do not press down on her belly unless I tell you to. The baby will come naturally." The midwife was sitting on a stool in front of Anna, lifting the shift to check on her progress with a practiced eye. "Now we wait."

Elsa comforted her sister as best she could when the contractions hit. The midwife coached Anna to breathe through the pain. "Inhale through your nose, then breathe out slowly through your mouth, like you were blowing out a candle. Control it, visualize blowing the pain away."

Anna tried to follow the advice, she really did, but as the contractions got closer together and stronger, it got harder to stay in control. She gripped Elsa's forearms so hard that Elsa knew there would be bruises on them after this was all over.

One of the apprentice midwives gently wiped the sweat off Anna's face and forehead. A sudden groan escaped Anna's throat, it went on longer than previous sounds. The midwife looked closely and said, "I see the babe's head starting to come. Control yourself, and push when I say so!"

Her entire body tense, Anna tried to relax even a little, but the pain was building. It felt like her insides were being twisted, pulled, and squeezed. There was an intense searing pain in her lower back, then it felt like her body was being stretched wide open.

"Here it is, here it is. Push now, push when you feel the most intense pain, the babe is coming!" exclaimed the midwife.

Anna felt her vision narrow and go black, and she thought she'd scream as she felt she was being torn apart. Then suddenly it was over, the pain was just a dull ache. She collapsed limp in her sister's arms, and she heard a faint squalling wail.

The two apprentices waited for the midwife take the baby and slap it smartly on its tiny backside to make it cry, then helped to cut the umbilical cord and wrap the child in a clean blanket. Delivering the afterbirth and cleaning Anna took but a few moments more, then they said, "Let us help you up and to the bed, Lady. Your child is hungry and must be fed!" One of them left, presumably to fetch Kristoff to meet his new child.

Elsa was dizzy from her emotions and the sensations she had just experienced. The birth was messy and bloody and she thought SHE'D screamed in shared pain with Anna, but the baby was here now, apparently healthy, and the midwife didn't seem to think there was anything to worry about. Elsa mentally congratulated herself for keeping her magic under such tight control that not even a snowflake escaped – cold might not bother her, but Anna and the baby needed to stay warm.

Once Anna was comfortably propped up in the bed and a warm blanket tucked around her, they handed her the little one to feed. Reddish gold fuzz covered the baby's head, and teal eyes blinked at the confusing world. The little … "Is it a boy or a girl?" Anna asked. She hadn't noticed, everything had happened so quickly.

"You have a beautiful daughter, Lady," answered the midwife. "Let her find your breast, it is important she feed now."

Elsa helped Anna fumble with her nightgown and cradle the baby to her breast. Presented with her first meal, the child began sucking eagerly.

"Wow." Anna looked down at her newborn daughter and took a deep breath. "I'm a mother, Elsa, I really did it!"

Elsa smiled through her tears, the joy and relief and giddy happiness almost overwhelming. "You are indeed, Anna. She's beautiful."

There was a commotion at the door and Kristoff came in, looking dazed. "Anna? Are you okay? The baby?" His knees seemed wobbly as he came to the bed and knelt beside his wife and child and tears came to his eyes as he kissed Anna's forehead.

Elsa stepped back to give him his moment and found herself near the fire, where the midwife and her two apprentices were doing the necessary cleanup chores. "Thank you," she murmured. "I was so worried about her."

The midwife chuckled and finished drying her hands. "Just a day's work, Lady. I assume the man who kidnapped your sister has been … dealt with?" When Elsa nodded, she went on, "I knew there was something wrong, but your sister didn't seem to be in distress except for the baby. I'm glad you found them in time."

"We owe you for your services, ah … ?" Elsa realized she didn't know the woman's name.

"Rana, Lady. Most folk pay with chickens, or rabbits, or root vegetables. We aren't a prosperous village. Too far from the capitol, too out of the way. But we have a decent living, if not surrounded in luxury."

"Well, Rana, I can promise that you will have whatever you ask for in return for the service you have done today," Elsa assured her. "My sister will see to it."

Another chuckle from Rana. "Our needs are meager, Lady, but I'm sure I can think of something."

"Elsa! Come here!" Anna was calling from her bed.

"What, honey? Is something wrong?" Elsa hurried to the bedside.

"No, silly, I just want you to meet your new niece! Elsa, may I introduce you to Kristiana … Elsa Idunn, heir to the Crocus Throne!"

Elsa teared up again. Kristoff's grin was so wide she thought he'd split his cheeks.

It didn't take long for little Krissi, as Anna immediately began to call her, to finish eating, burp up a few milk bubbles and fall asleep. Anna was nodding off, too, so Rana shooed Elsa and Kristoff out of the house and told them to get something to eat next door at her brother's home. Her niece would take them and introduce them. She reassured them that Anna and the baby would be watched over while they did.

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It had been more than a week since Anna had disappeared and Kristoff went off to find her. Admiral Naismith and Captain Gunnarsson looked like men who hadn't slept the entire time. They were in Naismith's office in the castle, still coordinating the search. So far, nothing had turned up and they had received no messages from Kristoff.

"I think that the kidnapper must have gotten the Queen across the border and completely out of the kingdom before our search really got underway, Eric," Naismith was saying when the door slammed open.

Kai Brevik, the Head Butler of the castle, stood in the door, breathing heavily as though he had been running. But he was smiling, grinning, actually, almost giddy.

"Admiral, Captain, we have received a message from the Queen!" He waved a piece of paper in his hand. "She is well, Kristoff found her, she had the baby in a small village near the far northern border. Both mother and baby are well, we have an heir!"

It took a moment for the news to sink into the exhausted brains of the two men at the desk. When it did, Naismith slumped back in his chair and covered his eyes with a hand and muttered something that could have been a prayer of relief. Gunnarsson's shoulders relaxed and he sighed.

"Where are they now?" Naismith asked as he straightened himself into his normal ramrod military posture. "Does the note say? Are you sure the note is from the Queen?"

"Yes, it's Anna's handwriting for certain. She says they are stopping and spending a day or two with the trolls to introduce them to the baby. They ARE Kristoff's family, after all." Kai was almost dancing as he relayed this information, he couldn't seem to stand still. It was very odd behavior for a man normally as staid and dignified as the butler was.

"Kai, I must ask – I am thrilled and relieved that the Queen is safe and so is the baby, but … you seem rather more ecstatic and demonstrative than I would expect." Naismith quirked an eyebrow at the man. "Is there something more to the message that has you acting like this?"

"Well, the message was most gratifying, most welcome, don't you see. But the MESSENGER was … was a delightful surprise, Admiral. Most delightful." Kai giggled. Naismith couldn't believe his eyes or ears.

"Who was this delightful messenger that has you so giddy, Kai? I swear I've never seen you like this!" Gunnarsson demanded.

"Why, it was Olaf, Captain. Olaf brought the message from the Queen!" Kai's grin lit up the room.

Again, their exhaustion kept them from connecting the dots immediately but when the import of what Kai had said did hit them, they both reeled. It seemed that more than one prodigal was returning to Arendelle.


	13. We Have to Talk

" _To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless."_  
 **― G.K. Chesterton**

" _There are only three possible endings —aren't there? — to any story: revenge, tragedy or forgiveness. That's it. All stories end like that."_  
 **― Jeanette Winterson**

The little family spent several days with the trolls so that Cliff and Bulda could wallow in the joy of being grandparents and Anna and Kristoff could share the new baby with the entire clan.

"Kristoff is not the first human child we have taken in, Anna, and he won't be the last! But it has been many years since a lost orphan found our valley before him, and it is good to see our son and his wife and his newborn child," Bulda explained to her daughter-in-law while dangling a glowing crystal over the baby's crib.

Now that there was no reason for secrecy, the trolls cleared the rocks from the path to Elsa's cave, and she thanked Kristoff for his handiwork that let her be comfortable in the cave she had come to call home.

The second day in Troll Valley Kristoff was off doing something with his father and Olaf, leaving Anna and Elsa to have the long-delayed conversation about why Elsa had left. Elsa wasn't looking forward to it. She approached the cozy bedroom the trolls had build for Anna and Kristoff and knocked softly on the door jamb. If Anna was sleeping, Elsa didn't want to wake her.

"Come in!" Apparently, Elsa wasn't lucky enough that Anna was asleep – she would have to at least begin the conversation that she had been dreading and avoiding.

Slipping through the thick mossy hanging that served as a door to the room, Elsa saw that Anna was just finishing with feeding the baby. She approached the bed and sat in the rocking chair next to it. Kristoff had built the chair a few months into the pregnancy – the rocking motion had helped Anna when her back ached.

"Don't get too comfortable, 'Auntie Elsa'!" Anna fussed a bit with the baby, then handed her to Elsa. "Now she needs burping and probably a fresh diaper, and I figure you owe me!"

Elsa laughed, carefully positioned the soft cloth Anna handed to her, then cuddled Krissi so she could burp and spit up on the cloth-protected shoulder. Rocking and patting the baby's back, it didn't take long for milk bubbles and burps to come from Krissi's tiny lips. Cooing a little, the baby wiggled, then made another sound and a pungent new odor told Elsa it was indeed time for a fresh diaper.

Fortunately, she had been taught the proper method by the midwife in the village when Krissi was born. It was one ability she had not been tutored on by her father, and frankly one she had never dreamed she would need. Elsa being Elsa, she had immediately mastered the technique and was now able to skillfully remove the old diaper, clean the baby, put on a fresh clean diaper and fasten it. She picked up her niece and wrapped Krissi in a warm blanket, then returned to the rocking chair. Cuddled in her aunt's embrace, Krissi immediately fell asleep.

"Hey!" Anna crossed her arms and pouted. She had expected to have the baby returned to her.

"Shoosh, you! It's my turn to do a little bonding. Between you, Kristoff and the trolls, I've been feeling left out!" Elsa whispered. Her voice was a bit husky as she nuzzled the baby's hair and breathed in the clean scent of her.

Anna thought her heart would melt as she watched her sister and her daughter. "Well, okay." She settled herself more comfortably in her pillows and pulled up the comforter to her chin. She yawned, and Elsa was hopeful that sleep would claim her sister and The Conversation that she had been avoiding could be pushed off yet again. This was one of the few quiet moments the two had had alone together, and with the return to Arendelle scheduled for the morning Elsa was coward enough to want to avoid baring her soul to Anna, as much as she owed her the explanation for running away and faking her own death.

"Nope."

Elsa was startled by the one word from Anna. "Nope, what?"

"Nope, you're not skating away from this again. Kristoff has strict orders not to come back here, or let anyone else come here, until I send you back out there. So, start talking." Anna's eyes were still closed, she was comfortable in her nest of pillows and blankets.

A moment of silence while Elsa gathered her thoughts. But since she knew that Anna could practically read her mind she had to admit she was caught. Finally she spoke, "I … I'm not sure where to start."

"Start with 'why' because I need to know how you could break your promise to me." Anna's voice was strained, Elsa could tell she was struggling not to cry.

She settled Krissi a little closer, rocked gently back and forth and said, "You saw all the dispatches filled with anger and hate, Anna. You know how many kingdoms feared me. It brought back all the nightmares of my coronation, the hatred and fear, the imprisonment. We seemed to lurch from one crisis to another and I never had the time to properly heal.

I was broken, Anna. Every day I felt like a bag of broken glass, the sharp edges cutting me with every move. That's why toward the end I wouldn't get out of bed most days. The less I moved, the less I hurt."

Anna's eye's clenched shut, "I should have been there, I should have helped … " Elsa stopped her.

"No, Anna, don't you see? I had to be the Queen, we could never be just Anna and Elsa, we were condemned to be The Queen and The Princess. Duty, always duty came first when all I really wanted was to be your big sister again, to regain the childhood that fate had stolen from us.

That's why I finally had to leave. I … I knew that if I didn't, I'd eventually curdle up into a hard little ball of pure bile, hating being Queen, hating the kingdom, hating even you. That could only end in disaster." Elsa's voice quavered, "I already hated myself."

"Why?" Anna's shocked whisper. She thought she had known Elsa, but she had never realized that Elsa's self-hatred had remained in her heart, an ember waiting for events to rekindle a roaring blaze of tragedy. Anna had thought that once they were reunited Elsa had overcome the guilt and shame of her isolation. Clearly, she was wrong. She had let her optimism blind her to her sister's ongoing pain.

"For failing you … and Arendelle … again." A few tears glistened on Elsa's cheeks. The baby stirred, as though sensing the emotions roiling in Elsa's heart. Elsa comforted Krissi by humming a soft lullaby as she rocked and the baby was soon deeply asleep again.

Elsa continued her explanation to her sister. "You were always my rock, Anna, my touchstone of sanity. But I was so damaged that even you could only hold back the despair for shorter and shorter periods. I knew I had to do something drastic, and I knew you would never agree to it. So I left, and made sure that you wouldn't follow me. I knew you'd marry Kristoff and have babies, that the kingdom would have a sane and just ruler and the memory of the crazy Ice Witch would fade into just another fairy tale to frighten little children. If it broke my heart to never see my sister again, I could accept that as my last sacrifice to duty."

There was no sound in the room except the soft creak of the rocking chair and even softer snores from the sleeping Krissi. Elsa looked at the baby, looked around the room, looked everywhere except at Anna. Finally, she spoke again. "And … there's one more thing, Anna. It **was** a sacrifice, it **did** break my heart to have to give you up. But it also allowed me to distance myself, to come here and just be … Elsa. To learn to be just me. Pabbie helped guide me, but it was my path to walk alone. And it worked. Finally, now, I am healed, comfortable with being just Elsa."

Elsa stood up carefully and brought the baby back to place her in the arms of her mother. She knelt next to the bed to help Anna sit up a bit and cradle Krissi. Satisfied, she remained on her knees and clasped her hands and bowed her head.

"I … have one last thing to say, Anna. I'm sorry. More sorry than I have words to express, that I hurt you so by running away. There is no excuse for it, no explanation for a sin so foul." Tears dripped from her cheeks, but she could not meet Anna's eyes. "If the cost of my healing is to lose my sister's trust, I will mourn that loss for the rest of my life and in whatever may come after. I can only hope that you can eventually forgive me."

At first, Anna had nothing to say. She was thinking about what her sister had told her, realizing how deep Elsa's wounds had been and how well she had concealed them, again. The short time they had enjoyed as sisters, reconciled after so many years, had not been nearly long enough to heal Elsa. She shuddered as she realized what evil could have come if Elsa had **not** run away a second time, had not left once more to protect her sister and her kingdom from … herself. The first time was an accident – Elsa hadn't intended to freeze the kingdom. Anna's imagination failed at trying to picture what catastrophes a hate-filled Snow Queen could bring to pass with a focused intent to do harm. Elsa's minds-eye had seen it, though, and so she did what she knew had to be done.

Anna reached out to touch Elsa's arm. "Elsa, please, look at me!"

"I'm … too ashamed, Anna," was the whispered response. Elsa stirred as though to stand, perhaps to leave, but Anna's touch turned into a grip on Elsa's wrist.

"Elsa, I can't go running after you with the baby in my arms! Now you listen to me – no more running! You get up, you put Krissi in her crib for her nap, and then you crawl in here and let me hug you!" Anna's tears were beginning to flow as she handed her daughter to Elsa.

Meekly following instructions, Elsa did as she was told. Once under the covers, Elsa did what she always did when she needed reassurance – she positioned herself so she could hear Anna's strong, steady heartbeat.

Anna hummed a song from when they were little, stroking Elsa's back to comfort her. "Honey, I'm not going to say I forgive you yet, or that my trust isn't a little … um, damaged. But I understand. And having had that crown on MY head for over a year certainly adds a layer of understanding of the pressure you felt." She sniffled a little. "I'll confess that I had days when running away sure looked appealing." She hugged Elsa a little closer. "I'm just happy to have you back again. And I promise that if you ever decide you need to do something, and think I wouldn't agree to go along with it, I will listen to you. I may try to talk you out of it, but I will never ever stand in your way."

She felt her sister nod, then Elsa pushed herself up on one elbow to look into Anna's eyes. "Thank you, Anna. I love you, and my promise to you is that I will never again make a decision so profound without letting you know about it, and trusting you to help me through it."

Both women fussed over wiping their tears away, and Elsa got out of the bed to sit once more in the rocking chair, content to simply be with her sister and her niece. Krissi finally stirred and fussed and whimpered, and Anna fumbled at her nightgown. "I know that sound – someone wants dinner!" She looked over at Elsa and went on, "Honey, go get Kristoff, will you? Tell him Krissi is eating, and that I think I'm strong enough to come out for dinner tonight?"

Elsa nodded, then went to pass the message on to Kristoff and Bulda.

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

The next morning it took about an hour to get everything loaded up in the sled and get Anna and the baby settled. Kristoff had modified the back of the sled to be a comfortable reclining seat, cushioned with pillows and blankets, with a seat next to it for Elsa. Baby supplies were tucked under the driver's seat and tied down behind it as well.

With Anna settled in her chair, Kristoff handed her the baby and tucked the blankets up to keep them both warm. Elsa got in and sat next to Anna. She was dressed in a plain dress and hooded cloak. Although she had sent Olaf to the castle with the note from Anna, Elsa did not want her return to be made public just yet. So she would slip into the castle with Anna disguised as the village midwife who delivered the baby. The issue of an announcement that Elsa was alive could wait – Elsa wanted the kingdom focused on the new heir, for one thing. For another, she wasn't sure how her 'resurrection' would be greeted. This was the second time she had abandoned her kingdom, after all.

In the meantime, Olaf and Marshmallow would stay with the trolls.

"Ready?" Kristoff turned to look at his wife and child.

Anna blew him a raspberry and said, "I was born ready, and I like to go fast! Let's get back home and let everyone know we're okay and that baby Krissi is the new heir to the throne!" Elsa laughed and settled herself at her sister's side as the sled took off for Arendelle.

Not far outside of Troll Valley, Kristoff saw a contingent of Queen's Own Guards sitting on logs next to the trail, their horses tethered to tree trunks. He pulled over and stopped. "Captain?"

Captain Eric Gunnarsson stood up and came to attention. So did the rest of the guards.

Eric saluted and said, "Prince Kristoff, Your Majesty!" Eric's eyes flicked to the hooded figure sitting next to Anna, but he did not speak to her. He assumed that if Elsa or Queen Anna wanted to make a public announcement that Elsa was still alive, they would do so. For now, it appeared that the ex-Queen wished to remain incognito. "When we received your message, the Admiral ordered us to camp here and wait for you. May I say how very glad we are that you and the baby are safe and well?"

Anna smiled and replied, "You may, Captain, I am very glad to see you as well. And will be very VERY glad to return to my own bed." She continued, "I promise a full review of everything that happened once we are back in the castle and settled. I assume I don't need to explain why some of it is … sensitive … and will need be to discussed with the Admiral and the rest of the Council before we make any … public announcements about what happened?"

Eric nodded his understanding and then asked, "May we return to Arendelle, now, Your Majesty?"

"Please, Captain, that would be wonderful."

It took mere moments for the guards to mount up, form up around Kristoff's sled, and begin the final stretch of the journey back to Arendelle.

Anna poked her sister in the leg, then whispered just loud enough for Elsa to hear her over the sounds of the sled runners. "Well, I guess we'll both have some explaining to do, huh?"

Elsa sighed. "Yes, we will." She reached to take Anna's hand in her own. "But at least we'll do it together."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Everlasting thanks to my beta, stillslightlynerdy. She always has suggestions that make my story so much better.

We're down to the short strokes, now, fans. Only one more chapter to go, although it's so long I may break it into two pieces. After all the pain and sorrow, there is a faint glimmer of light at the end of the secret passage, and it's not an oncoming train.


	14. In the end, it all begins ― Saji Ijiy

" _You can run away from yourself so often, and so much, just because the broken pieces of you cut your feet too deeply if you stay around for too long. But then what if someone were to come along and pick up those pieces for you? Then you wouldn't have to run away from yourself anymore. You could stop running. If someone sees you as something worth staying with— maybe you'll stay with yourself, too."_

 **― C. JoyBell C.**

" _His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom."_  
 **― J.R.R. Tolkien,** _ **The Return of the King**_

There was a knock on Elsa's bedroom door. "Come in."

It was Kristoff. "Lady Elsa, Her Royal Majesty Anna, Queen Regnant of Arendelle requests and requires that you attend her immediately in her bedchamber!" he said in the haughtiest voice he could manage, then performed a sweeping bow that mimicked the snootiest Baroness he could remember seeing around Court.

Elsa giggled. "Seriously, Kristoff? She wants to see me now? It's bedtime."

"Now. She wants you to spend the night. I'm not kidding. Neither is she."

His sister-in-law (LIVE sister-in-law, thanks be to all the gods of whatever pantheon had brought her back to them!) put down the book she was reading and raised an eyebrow quizzically. "And where will YOU be, if I may ask? Threesomes are somewhat frowned upon in polite Arendelle society. Not that they are unknown, mind you – "

"I won't ask how you know that, but you **will** be in a threesome tonight. Just not with me. You, your sister, and your niece. I'll be in Anna's old room, getting eight glorious uninterrupted hours of sleep!"

Anna and Kristoff shared baby duties. Since he could not nurse the baby, it was his job to get out of bed, get the baby, bring her to Anna for feeding, burp her when she was done, change her diaper, and put her back in her crib. This repeated every two or three hours. Passing that duty to Elsa for one night was more than welcome for that reason alone.

Laughing, Elsa threw back the blankets and got out of bed. There was a dressing gown on the chair next to it; she put it on and followed Kristoff. The dressing gown was probably unnecessary because the Royal Apartments were several rooms joined by doors that allowed going from room to room without using the public hallways.

There was the master bedroom, large and well-appointed. One door led to the nursery, which had a door to a dressing room with all the things a baby would need, but no door to the hallway. Through the nursery was a door to a bedroom intended for a nanny or nursemaid. Elsa had moved into that room the day they had returned to the castle. Her door to the castle hallway was locked from the inside, so she didn't have to worry about uninvited servants barging in. But there was one servant who had her own key ….

When they had returned to the castle from Troll Valley, Elsa had kept her face concealed with the hood, and Anna had simply referred to her as 'the midwife who delivered Kristianna. She'll be staying with us for a while.' Everyone was so excited to see Anna and the new baby that Elsa was able to slip into the castle almost unnoticed. She found her way to the residence wing without encountering anyone.

Of course, once inside the Royal Apartments, she had discovered that Gerda was already there waiting to get Anna and the baby settled. The maidservant had looked up from fussing with the baby's crib, a frown of confusion creasing her face when a hooded stranger came halfway through the door from the master bedroom and stopped abruptly.

After a tense moment, the 'midwife' stepped fully into the nursery and closed the door behind her, then threw back the hood and shyly said, "Gerda?" The voice was one Gerda had thought she would never hear again.

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, then whispered, "Elsa?" The tears clouding her vision made it hard to be sure, but then Elsa closed the gap between them and opened her arms to the woman who had taken care of her for those long lonely years.

"I'm so sorry I left you, Gerda. I'm so sorry to have done that to you and Kai. Please forgive me." Elsa was sobbing now. Gerda wrapped her arms around her little girl, the little girl Elsa used to be and hugged her, hugged her tight enough to convince herself that this was real and not a dream.

"Of course, I forgive you, Elsa." Gerda held her at arm's length then, taking in the sight of her. "Oh, milady, you look a sight for these old eyes!" The woman she had taken care of for so many years did indeed look much better than she had the last time before Elsa's disappearance. She wasn't plump by any means, but she had filled out and the dark circles under her eyes were gone. "Thank the gods you're back!"

So Elsa's presence was known to both Kai and Gerda but no one else, and now she followed Kristoff through the interior doors to the master bedroom.

Once there, Elsa took off her robe and laid it neatly on one of the side chairs while Kristoff kissed his wife tenderly. He waved to Elsa with a big grin on his face as he left the room through the door leading to the hallway.

Anna was nestled into a mound of pillows with the baby in her arms. "Glad you could join us," Anna murmured. "Come under the covers, even though it's almost May, cold still bothers me!"

Elsa chuckled and slid into the bed next to her sister. "She's so beautiful," Elsa murmured, letting her fingertips caress the downy soft baby hair on her niece's head. Krissi was cradled against Anna's breasts, done feeding and beginning to doze off, a little milk dribbling onto her chin.

"I do good work, no?" Anna smirked as she kissed Krissi's forehead. "I can't even remember how much it hurt."

Her sister chuckled softly, "I suspect that's part of our nature, to forget the pain, or the human race would have died out after the first generation because no woman would want to go through that again." She continued to caress her niece as she cuddled her sister, the blessed wonder in her heart that she should have all of this, her sister, her family, her life.

"But you could never forget the pain, could you?" Anna was having an insight into Elsa that had never occurred to her before.

"No."

"But why not?"

Elsa thought about it, "Maybe because it was all I had, so I was afraid to let it go. If I let it go, it would mean that nothing that had happened was real. And if none of it was real, what was the point of going on? I wondered, even after we were reunited, if I forgot the pain would it mean that the sacrifices had all been for nothing? I had you back, but if I forgot how it had hurt to be without you, would that mean that what I did wasn't necessary?"

"Well, you're back now, and that's all that matters," Anna assured her sister. Elsa said nothing as she continued to stroke her niece's hair. "Right, Elsa?"

"I'm back, yes, Anna, and I love being here with you and Kristoff and this little one."

The silence dragged out until Anna said, "But? There's a 'but' in there somewhere, isn't there?" She was apprehensive, wondering what Elsa wasn't saying.

"But, I'm not sure I should stay." Elsa cringed a little because she knew that would get a rise out of Anna.

Anna surprised her, though. She remained calm, cooing a little to soothe the sleeping baby. "Okay, I promised you I would always hear you out. You have to have a reason to feel unsure of about staying, and if it is one thing I FINALLY learned it's that you always have really GOOD reasons. So, please, tell me why you feel that way."

"It's going to sound … trite," Elsa murmured.

"I just care about you, so trite or not, tell me," retorted Anna.

"I feel that I don't have a purpose here anymore. You're the Queen, and doing a great job as Queen. I kept getting news about the kingdom the whole year I was hiding, so I know. If I suddenly pop up again, it will take attention away from the real monarch, you." Elsa grimaced and continued, "That's assuming people don't just decide to run me out of Arendelle with torches and pitchforks, of course."

"They wouldn't do that, you should have attended your own funeral to see them grieving. And your purpose is to be my sister, Elsa. I don't care about the kingdom – I care about us. I want you here to watch my children grow up. To help me raise them, to help me be a better Queen," Anna implored. "Isn't that worth doing?"

"Yes, if it wouldn't cause trouble in the kingdom, cause trouble for you," Elsa said. "So … maybe … it would be better all around if I just slipped away, emigrated to America, where no one knows anything about Snow Queens." She lay back on the pillows and sighed. "Pabbie and I had talked about that before Kristoff came and told us you were missing. There are many people going from Scandinavia to America. I could vanish in the crowd."

"But you would be leaving us behind, again!" Anna kept her voice under strict control. She knew that if she cried, she could make Elsa feel guilty enough to drop the idea. But that wouldn't be keeping her promise. They would work this out the way they had said they would, or not at all.

"Yes. And I don't think I could bear that, now that I've experienced of the pain of missing you, again."

"Maybe … " Anna began, unsure of what Elsa would say to this idea, "Maybe you could go back to being Queen, take the throne back from me."

"Anna, I can't. Even **if** I wanted to, and **I don't** , I can't."

"Why not?"

"There's no way to undo an abdication. When I signed that decree, that was the end of it; Queen Elsa ceased to exist and there's no way to ever bring her back. Besides I think Arendelle's better for it."

Elsa could see Anna wasn't convinced. "Honey, I threw all that away and have no regrets. You're the Queen, you're a better ruler for Arendelle than I could be after everything that's happened."

She cradled Anna in her arms, Krissi still asleep making little burbling sounds. Elsa thought her heart would burst with the love she felt. She took a deep breath and appreciated the scent of Anna, a little strawberry and chocolate, some sweat, maybe a little spit-up milk and wet diaper. It was sweeter than roses and purer than new-fallen snow. It was life, and it was love, and it reminded Elsa why she was so glad to be back.

Anna let the silence go on for several minutes, then said, "Okay, let's put this aside for now. I made you a promise, and I'll keep it. You keep thinking about it, and we'll talk any time you're ready. But for tonight, let's just be sisters and tell each other silly stories and remember the good times, and – " She was interrupted by Krissi wiggling and making a snorting noise, then producing a rather strong odor.

Elsa giggled and finished, " – and change the baby's diapers! Here, let me." She got out of bed, took the baby to the changing table in the nursery and did what needed doing. When she returned, she placed Krissi in her cradle next to the bed, made sure she was comfortable and asleep, then crawled back under the covers with Anna.

"Elsa?" Anna's voice was sleepy.

"Hmmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too, Anna. I'll never give you a reason to doubt that again."

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

Life went on around the castle as Anna resumed her normal duties. No one remarked on the existence of the 'midwife' who stayed out of sight most of the time. Although Naismith and Gunnarsson knew of Elsa's return, along with Kai and Gerda, they had all been sworn to keep the secret until … until Anna decided what to do.

Elsa had been firm about not retaking the crown, but Anna was being Anna and wouldn't take no for an answer. Besides she was concerned about Elsa feeling useless – she didn't want to lose her sister a third time. So, She decided that she could give Elsa a job as her right hand and make her the Duchess of Something or Other. She explained the plan to Kristoff one night as they lay in bed and asked, "Don't you think that would be a great idea? I could surprise her –"

"No." Even muffled by his pillow Kristoff's opinion was clear.

"What do you mean, 'No'?" Anna demanded.

Kristoff burrowed deeper into his share of the comforter. "Surprising her with something like this is the worst idea you've had since you dragged me to the North Mountain."

"Yeah but that worked out pretty well, didn't it?"

"Eventually. And remember all the trouble we got into before it did? You DIED, Anna. I'm not suggesting anything like that will happen again, but I am telling you that this is NOT the sort of surprise you spring on an unsuspecting victim."

She pouted. "I'm the Queen now. I can do this."

"Yes, you can. And no one can stop you. I'm just telling you it's a really bad idea. You need to talk to her about this. You have no idea if she would even agree to it. You already know she doesn't want to be the Queen again. What makes you think she would accept this?"

When he got no further answer from Anna, he rolled over and tried to sleep. He knew she had to come to grips with this on her own.

Anna mulled her idea over for a few days, then decided to seek another opinion. She summoned Chief Justice of the Courts Signe Kirstensdatter to her office for a meeting at Signe's earliest convenience. Since Anna was the Queen, Kirstensdatter's earliest convenience was as quick as she could get to the castle.

After ringing for tea and cookies and getting Signe settled into a comfortable chair, Anna swore her to secrecy and then revealed that Elsa was alive and in fact living in the castle but staying out of sight. Kirstensdatter took the news with equanimity and carefully poured herself a cup of tea. Anna then laid out the idea of ennobling Elsa and making her the Queen's most senior adviser. "I need you to tell me if this is legal."

"Yes, it is legal. This is within your power as Queen. Arendelle is an absolute monarchy, Your Majesty. There is no check on your power once you became Queen Regnant, short of a coup d'état."

"Then why couldn't I make Elsa Queen again, instead of just a Duchess or something?" Anna tried not to grimace at her overflowing in-basket.

"That … is somewhat of a paradox. Your sister abdicated. There is no going back from that."

"Could I make her my heir? And then I abdicate?"

"For one thing, you already have an heir; your daughter. Are you willing to steal her birthright? To give it to someone who has thrown away her crown? Twice?"

"Okay, but I still want Elsa to be my … I don't know what to call it, maybe, assistant queen."

"You can call it whatever you like, although 'assistant queen' doesn't have the right … gravitas."

"Okay, then. And I can make her a Duchess of Arendelle?"

"As absolute monarch, you can bestow whatever noble titles and lands suits your fancy."

"Great. She'll be so surprised." Anna now had the confidence that she could do something to make Elsa feel needed.

"Wait. You haven't discussed this with her?" Kirstensdatter almost spilled her tea.

"No, I wanted to surprise her."

"Your Majesty, forgive my presumption, but that is a terrible idea."

"Now you sound like my husband."

"Then I have to say You should have listened to him. This is not something you want to surprise Lady Elsa with."

"But … but why not?" Anna put down her tea cup and placed her hands flat on her desktop. She had hoped Signe would agree with her, not Kristoff.

"For one thing, it's not a gift, it's a burden. In effect, you are asking her to again take up a responsibility that she thought she had set down. That's most certainly not something to surprise her with. She abdicated for a reason, Your Majesty. I don't know what that reason or reasons might be, but my observations of her before she … left … would suggest that she did not do it lightly or frivolously."

"I don't understand why you think this is a bad idea." Anna slumped back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"Again, you must forgive my presumption. It's the surprise that's the bad idea, not necessarily the title or the job you want to give her. I was not privy to your lives before your sister's coronation. However, after the events of the Great Winter and subsequent Thaw, the entire kingdom became aware of what had happened to you both. Your sister spent 13 years trying to protect you and this kingdom from a magical power that she had good reason to believe was dangerous.

After your act of true love saved you, her and all of the rest of us, she settled into her reign and seemed to be recovering from her isolation quite well. Then Weselton attacked us, and she put herself into physical peril again for you and for the kingdom, and was badly hurt in the process.

She had to deal with the diplomatic fallout from that attack and her retaliation against that hideous little man. Then you both exposed and disrupted a plot to overthrow the monarchy and plunge this kingdom into revolutionary chaos. While doing so she was forced to kill the man who was holding you hostage. It was clearly justified as she was acting to save the life of another. But killing him was probably the last straw. She could no longer deal with the strain. It broke her.

Furthermore, because she had observed how well you performed as her regent, she knew that she was not abandoning the kingdom to suffer under an incompetent ruler. Perhaps she felt that you were a better choice for Queen than she was. It gave her the freedom to walk away from a role she could no longer handle and to do so without the guilt of abandoning her duty. We can argue endlessly whether she chose the right way to go about it, but she did it – she left.

And when that evil Prince from the Southern Isles came back and tried to kill you and your baby, she sacrificed herself one more time to save you, even though it meant that her ruse would be revealed. It is my understanding that she was willing to die if that was necessary, and it was only luck that she did not, is that true?"

"Yes, that's true," admitted Anna.

"So … chains of silk are no less binding just because they do not rust, Your Majesty. Are you really sure you want to surprise your sister with chains when she thought she was free of them? Do you love her so little that you wouldn't allow her a choice in taking on this role? "

"NO, I love her more than anything … I want her to be happy, I want everyone to know how much I love her."

"Then I suggest that trying to force her into doing this would make you happy, not her. Although I suspect she would do it out of love for you no matter her own feelings about the burden."

For several minutes the only sound in the office was the quiet 'clink' of tea cup being set on a saucer and the muted cries of the gulls over the fjord.

"What should I do?" Anna finally spoke.

"Why, ask her to be your strong right hand, Your Majesty."

"Wait, what? You just said she'd do it because I asked it of her. How is this different?" Anna was confused now.

"IF you offer this to her with no strings or conditions attached, IF you make it clear to her that this is something for her only if SHE wants it, and she accepts it willingly, then it will be worthy of her. Let me put this in terms very close to your own heart: when you married Prince Kristoff, did you feel it was a burden or a hardship? Did you feel you were entering into servitude?"

"NO, I love Kristoff, I wanted to marry him and he wanted me."

"Just so. You both entered into a contract as willing, consensual participants. As partners. That is what you must let your sister do. You want her as a partner; but she must be willing. You cannot order her to do this as her Queen. You must offer it to her as a sister. And, most importantly, you must be willing to accept 'no' as her answer, and convince her that you mean it, or you are not really offering her a free choice."

Signe finished her tea, ate one last cookie, then rose to bow to her Queen and take her leave.

Anna was so distracted by the thoughts whirling in her head she barely waved at Signe to give her permission to go. It was long after the sunset had faded in the sky that Anna stuffed the last cookie in her mouth and went looking for Kristoff to go down to dinner.

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

That evening after dinner, Anna fed Krissi then turned her over to Kristoff and went to find Elsa. Her sister was in the library in front of a cozy fire, curled up on the couch reading a book. She glanced up when Anna entered the room and could tell that the book would have to wait. Elsa sat up, put the it on the side table and said, "You have that 'we need to talk' look on your face, Anna."

Anna sat down next to Elsa and said, "Yes, we do. But before I start, I want to make something clear, Elsa. I love you, no matter what. That will never change. I've got a proposition for you, but you need to understand that it's only going to happen if YOU want it. If you don't think my idea works for you, that's the end of it."

She took Elsa's hand in her own and explained what she wanted to do – give Elsa a title and a job as assistant queen, "– or whatever, Elsa, the title doesn't matter, it's the job of helping me run the kingdom and do the best job for Arendelle that I can. I know the title doesn't matter to you, but it's a way for me to tell the whole world how special you are."

Elsa had listened quietly to Anna's proposal and sat thinking about it once her sister had finished. She noticed that Anna didn't press, just waited patiently for Elsa to react. That was … new, and very not Anna-like.

Finally Elsa said, "Anna, one of the reasons I left was because other kingdoms saw us as a threat. They saw ME as a threat. The diplomatic problems were multiplying faster than we could get a handle on them. That pretty much faded away when you became Queen. If I come back as your Prime Minister or Chancellor or whatever we call it … I need to be sure that hostility doesn't become a problem again. I'm going to think this over very carefully, but would you mind if I discuss the diplomatic issues with Admiral Naismith?"

"No, Elsa. Go ahead. Take all the time you need. I meant it when I said I wasn't going to push you on this."

"It makes sense, it might work but I've been free of the responsibility of ruling a kingdom for a year now. It's hard to think of going back under the yoke."

"Elsa, I love you, no matter what your decision. This is your home, and always will be, and you'll have a place here until the day that I die and even afterwards; if you're as good a babysitter as you are an Ice Queen I'm sure Krissi will keep you on. Please believe me when I say that."

"I do, Anna, I do." She rose to leave. "I just need a little time to think about it."

"Take all the time you need, Elsa. I meant that. This is your choice and I'll accept whatever you decide is the right thing for you." Anna stood and took Elsa in a hug. "I'll wait patiently however long it takes."

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

It was the next afternoon before Elsa could consult with the Admiral – a morning Royal Council meeting was scheduled and ran through a working lunch. When he finally made it to the small office he maintained in the castle, Elsa was already there, standing by the windows and looking out over the fjord. Naismith was alone, so he closed the door behind him and greeted Elsa.

"Milady, may I say how good it is to have you back? And how well you look? Your … absence was felt most profoundly." Naismith bowed, then gestured for Elsa to sit. He held the chair for her, then took his place behind his desk and continued, "How may I help you?"

Elsa explained Anna's idea quickly and succinctly. She then came to the key to her dilemma. "The reason I am seeking your advice, Admiral, is out of concern that my return in any official capacity in the governance of Arendelle would simply take us back to the diplomatic problems of a year ago. Do you think that is what would happen?"

Admiral Naismith fell into the pose that indicated that he was analyzing a problem carefully – he sat back in his chair, steepled his fingers and stared off at the ceiling with unfocused eyes. Elsa waited patiently – she had seen him in this pose many times.

Finally he sat forward again and addressed her. "No. No, I think that you taking on the role you describe would actually be beneficial to the kingdom."

Elsa was surprised. "Why is that, Admiral?"

"Lady Elsa, the problem when you were queen is that you were too powerful. As Queen, there was no check on your power within the kingdom, short of a violent overthrow of your regime. As we saw with the Duke of Weselton, even a corrupt, despotic ruler will be tolerated for a long time before their people are disgusted enough to take that step. You were not such a ruler. Arendelle has thrived under your family for many years.

However, when we add in your magic, a powerful magic that can devastate entire nations with almost trivial ease, our neighbors grew concerned. Your people were loyal and would follow you into battle willingly. Should you prove to be a power mad warlord, eager to expand your empire, your forces would be close to unstoppable."

"I am mortal, Admiral, I can be killed," Elsa's protest was vehement.

"Yes, but not easily, if you were indeed to embark on a campaign of conquest. You would be protected by conventional means while your magic did most of the destruction. So, in effect, you had unlimited power at your disposal to do whatever you wanted to do. That is a threatening scenario for our neighbors and even the Great Powers of Europe."

"So what would be different now?" Elsa still wasn't comfortable with his scenario.

"You would be subject to your sovereign Queen. If you **were** power-mad, bent on subjugating other realms, you would never have abdicated in the first place. As your sister's right hand, the powerful mage has no legitimate role in Arendelle policy except that which Queen Anna gives you. Without the Snow Queen Elsa as all-powerful ruler, Arendelle remains a small kingdom, no threat to anyone. This creates a balance of power that is far easier to present to our neighbors as benign to them, and in fact makes more credible our claims that your magic is only for defensive use."

Naismith waited for Elsa to absorb what he had told her. They had worked well together when she was Queen, he was familiar with how she processed information and made decisions.

Finally, she looked at him and smiled. "Admiral, thank you for your counsel. Your analysis touches on exactly those points that trouble me the most and will help me come to a decision before Anna goes mad trying to be 'patient' with her dithering older sister." She rose to leave and he rose as well.

"Milady, I am glad to be of service, to Arendelle, and to you. It is good to have you back."

She nodded her thanks and left.

 _x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=_

Elsa walked the ramparts of the castle and looked out over the fjord. She was considering the proposal Anna had presented to her and Naismith's analysis of the diplomatic implications.

Maybe the Admiral had the right of it; balance was the key. As Queen of a small kingdom she was no threat except to her own people. As SNOW QUEEN of a small kingdom, with a Navy to protect her while she conquered with her magic, she could take over the world.

" _Oh, Papa, if only we could have figured this out fifteen years ago. Somehow, we should have realized that my powers weren't a curse, but they weren't something a Queen should have, either. Anna should have been named heir, then."_

But they were who they were because of everything that had happened since **that** night, the night her magic betrayed her and hurt Anna, the night their destiny was set on the path to **this** night. Who could know what would have happened if her father had chosen another alternative for his children?

Would Anna be the same person? Would Elsa? Would their love have managed to survive? Anna could have become fearful and distrustful of a sister with magic powers who might seek to take back what she could consider her birthright. Elsa could have become resentful and jealous of a younger sibling taking a crown that should have been hers. With her magic, that could have played out like the worst tragedy in Shakespeare or Greek mythology.

No, for all the blood and pain it had cost them, their lives were the result of all the decisions made along the path that led to now. Good, bad, large or small, the choices we make define us. Elsa was who she was because of her parents' choices, Anna's choices, and finally and always, her own.

" _I am Elsa, daughter of Agdar and Idunn, sister to Anna. And I am the Snow Queen,"_ her thoughts echoed the jibe she had thrown in Hans' face as she killed him like the rabid dog he was. Now she amended those words. _"I am Elsa. And I am my sister's strong right hand, and will serve as her liege until death takes me or the world ends."_

That felt right. She was at peace with it. She turned to go down to the library and tell Anna her decision.

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

" _Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?"  
_ **― J.R.R. Tolkien,** _ **The Fellowship of the Ring**_

The courtyard was packed, more packed than the day Anna had been acclaimed as Queen, if that were even possible. The crowd spilled out across the causeway and into the marketplace again. The Royal Family stood on the portico, Queen Anna and Prince Consort Kristoff and the baby and Elsa. It was Elsa's first public appearance since her return.

Everyone knew she was back, of course. The story of Anna's disappearance and rescue from the erstwhile Prince Hans of the Southern aisles had spread through word of mouth and in the official account Anna had published in the Arendelle newspaper. The story had glossed over just where Elsa had been and what she had been doing for the last year. Little details like why she had felt the need to abdicate and fake her own death had been brushed off in the more engaging story of Anna's peril at the revenge plot Hans had put together. And if the tale of how Elsa had helped Kristoff rescue Anna to bring the Queen back to Arendelle was a little vague? What did it matter, the kingdom had its Queen back safe and sound, a new heir to the throne, and Elsa to boot.

"– and so, People of Arendelle, my sister has returned to us, to me, and I will be receiving her oath of fealty as she accepts the role of High Chancellor of Arendelle. As Chancellor, she will be at my side to provide counsel and guidance and also serve as a member of the Royal Advisory Council." Anna took a few steps to sit in the throne set up on the portico. Kristoff took his place at the right of the throne. A small pillow was placed at Anna's feet, and one of the guardsmen stepped up to lay a large sword across Anna's lap, which she held carefully. _"Wouldn't do to drop it and cut off a limb, Anna. Or poke Elsa in the eye!"_ Anna suppressed the urge to bite her tongue in concentration while struggling to keep the sword firmly in her lap.

Elsa stepped forward to kneel in front of her sister, her Queen, and placed her left hand on the hilt of the sword and spoke the words of the ancient Oath of Fealty that had been part of Arendelle's heritage since their distant ancestors had found the spit of land where the castle now stood.

"Here do I swear fealty and service to Arendelle, and to the Queen of the realm, to speak and to be silent, to act and to let be, to come and to go, in scarcity or prosperity, in peace or war, in living or dying, from this hour henceforth, until my Queen release me, or death take me, or the world end. So say I, Elsa of Arendelle, daughter of Agdar and Idunn." Her voice was clear and strong and could be heard throughout the courtyard. She looked up into the eyes of her sister and saw the love within her own heart reflected there. Anna's eyes were bright with tears of joy, and Elsa felt tears running down her own cheeks.

Anna 's voice was choked with emotion as she began, but it rose until it was as bright and clear as Elsa's, "And I, Anna, daughter of Agdar and Idunn, High Queen of Arendelle, do hear and will never forget, nor fail to return that which is given: fealty with love, valor with honor, oath-breaking with vengeance."

Anna gestured and the guardsman stepped forward and took the sword carefully from the Queen. Free of the encumbrance, Anna stood and helped Elsa to her feet and hugged her, hard enough to squeeze the breath from her sister. The hug wasn't part of the protocol, but no one was going to argue with her about it, certainly not Elsa.

The Queen released her sister from the embrace, then pulled her a few steps forward, keeping her arm entwined with Elsa's. Her voice rang out to proclaim, "People of Arendelle, I would bestow a title upon my sister worthy of her service to Arendelle and to me. Therefore, I declare her to be Her Grace, Elsa, Duchess of Nordfjell, Chancellor of Arendelle!" The crowd in the courtyard erupted in cheers that echoed off the mountains surrounding the fjord and the castle.

Elsa let the roaring adulation of the crowd wash over her; she could **feel** it, like hot August sunshine on her face and it made everything seem right again. She clung to Anna on one side and Kristoff had stepped up on the other side, close enough for her to hear the deep rumble of laughter in his chest.

"Psst, Elsa?" She could hardly hear him over the roar of the crowd chanting her name over and over again. "Remember when you and Anna told me about how the Romans used to have some slave whisper 'thou art mortal, Caesar', so the emperors wouldn't get too puffed up about themselves during their triumphal parades?"

"Yes?" That seemed an odd although appropriate allusion for him to make – that conversation had taken place a year and a half ago.

"I just wanted to remind you that it's Auntie Elsa's turn for diaper duty tonight. Anna and I have … other plans." He grinned and waved at the crowd with the hand that wasn't cradling Crown Princess Kristianna Elsa Idun, heir to the Crocus Throne of Arendelle. Who had spit up all over the shoulder of his dress tunic while sleeping through all the fuss.

"Big plans. Plans involving strawberries and chocolate. And whipped cream." Anna smirked as she elbowed her sister. "So don't be late, your Queen commands it!"

Elsa couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up. She had earned her happy ending after all.

* * *

" – _the reign of Queen Anna I began with a mystery as her elder sister, Elsa, popularly known as The Snow Queen, disappeared after leaving a Decree of Abdication behind. Evidence led Queen Anna and all her advisers to believe that Queen Elsa was dead._

 _:_

 _Of course, the mystery of the REAPPEARANCE of the Snow Queen was never explained in detail, even after Queen Anna bestowed the title of Duchess of Nordfjell and Protector of the Realm on Dame Elsa. It is documented that she served well as High Chancellor of Arendelle until Queen Anna turned over the kingdom to Crown Princess Kristianna after a 35 year reign._

 _The Queen, Prince Consort Kristoff and Dame Elsa then retired to a quiet life of study and travel, confident that Queen Kristianna had been well-tutored in statecraft by her mother and her aunt._

 _After the death of ..."_

Froiland, Nils. History of Arendelle, 1800-1899. Arendelle: Royal University Press, 1907.

* * *

 **~FIN~**

"And so it was, and so it ever shall be."  
 **― Greg Farshtey, Legends of Metru Nui**

"Endings to be useful must be inconclusive."  
 **― Samuel R. Delany**

" _An end is only a beginning in disguise."_  
 **― Craig D. Lounsbrough, An Intimate Collision: Encounters with Life and Jesus**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Well, after a three story arc that has produced more than 165,000 words, we have finally come to Elsa's happy ending. Whew! The trilogy that shall be known as "The Worthy Queen of Greatness Trilogy" is now a wrap.

Why those quotes after we are all finished? Well, the story of the Two Sisters of Arendelle will go on, in some way or fashion. My muse is a fickle one – she'll go to sleep for months, then wake up, slap my head and scream, "WRITE!"

One story that was alluded to several times was: what if Elsa emigrated to America? I'm actually going to write that story, because a lot of Norwegians and other Scandinavians wound up close to where I grew up and I can tap the local Historical Society for color background.

Other than that, we'll see.

All gratitude and blessings upon my beta reader and good friend, stillslightlynerdy. It's been more than two years since we started picking at each other's prose, and I know mine is the better for her suggestions. Thank you! (If you haven't read her stories, you are missing out on some good story telling. If you read it, leave her reviews begging for more; that's my nagging mission in the new year – get more stillslightlynerdy stories on the site.)

And recently I picked up another helper, jedijae, who will kick around story ideas and give me a thumbs up or down on plot points. She is also a Frozen author, and her modern AU's are some of the few I've seen where Elsa and Anna are absolutely in character, not cardboard cutouts running around at Starbuck's. I love them! You will, too! Go, read! Her current work in progress is a modern AU with Anna as a paratrooper. A perfect fit.

Last but never least, go to my tumblr and find the post with the notification for this chapter. I commissioned comickergirl to do one last picture for me, and it was the perfect expression of the happy ending depicted here. Grrlgeek72 dot tumblr dot com is my blog, and I tag my stories 'grrlgeek's fanfiction. Search on "Anna's Reign"

Til next time. Since today is December 22, 2016, I wish all my readers and followers greetings and blessings for the holiday season and the new year.


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